Thank you for this reflection of how life changes, even in a small town. I was driving around Cumming the other day looking at all of the new homes being built, noticing the life coming back in the older buildings and homes, and seeing many new buildings going up that are going to be home to the new businesses springing up on the outskirts of town. And I thought - “Oh crap, they are going to have to put a stoplight on Cumming Road”. Is that progress or life passing me by……….or both?!
Lots to unpack. Interesting tension between past, present and future. A rural town growing, unlike most. But into what? More of the same suburban blandness, our lives "known" by who our teams are (both sports and political)? We are bigger than that, but sometimes that's all we see or let be seen in a timid kind of shorthand. Is the stoplight a sterile, mechanical sign of "progress" when it is clearly a hindrance in your journey? What some see as blessings other see as curses. Nicely done! Thank you.
Two thoughts collided as I read this poem -- a reminder that our unborn descendants, two or three generations away, won't really know us or our thoughts. They may carry our name, our genes, the rare possession we so carefully bought and kept. Yet, WE won't be in their memory. The second, a sentence from Kara Swisher's new book, Burn Book - "everything is always on the way to something else".
The stop light is nostalgia blending with hesitant anticipation. The past on its way to the future.
Congrats on publishing it. Iowa changed so much in the last couple decades, and it was so quiet, at least from where I'm sitting. Your reflection has a better view. Well done.
This reminds me of something I wrote, “I Prefer Nature in Decay” (or some such title). I compared it to neatly manicured lawns. The more aware we become of humankind’s destruction, the harder it is to see land gobbled up by development, and the more we appreciate land doing its own thing, keeping us (and animals) healthy. Thank you Suzanna. To say you have a way with words (and imagery) is an understatement!
Thank you for this reflection of how life changes, even in a small town. I was driving around Cumming the other day looking at all of the new homes being built, noticing the life coming back in the older buildings and homes, and seeing many new buildings going up that are going to be home to the new businesses springing up on the outskirts of town. And I thought - “Oh crap, they are going to have to put a stoplight on Cumming Road”. Is that progress or life passing me by……….or both?!
Lots to unpack. Interesting tension between past, present and future. A rural town growing, unlike most. But into what? More of the same suburban blandness, our lives "known" by who our teams are (both sports and political)? We are bigger than that, but sometimes that's all we see or let be seen in a timid kind of shorthand. Is the stoplight a sterile, mechanical sign of "progress" when it is clearly a hindrance in your journey? What some see as blessings other see as curses. Nicely done! Thank you.
Two thoughts collided as I read this poem -- a reminder that our unborn descendants, two or three generations away, won't really know us or our thoughts. They may carry our name, our genes, the rare possession we so carefully bought and kept. Yet, WE won't be in their memory. The second, a sentence from Kara Swisher's new book, Burn Book - "everything is always on the way to something else".
The stop light is nostalgia blending with hesitant anticipation. The past on its way to the future.
Congrats on publishing it. Iowa changed so much in the last couple decades, and it was so quiet, at least from where I'm sitting. Your reflection has a better view. Well done.
This reminds me of something I wrote, “I Prefer Nature in Decay” (or some such title). I compared it to neatly manicured lawns. The more aware we become of humankind’s destruction, the harder it is to see land gobbled up by development, and the more we appreciate land doing its own thing, keeping us (and animals) healthy. Thank you Suzanna. To say you have a way with words (and imagery) is an understatement!
Maybe even better than I remember from first reading. Thank you.
Congratulations Suzanna! Yet another good commentary about suburban or small town living.
OPPS...intended love not live, however both seem applicable.
The Stoplight brought me to hiw we can see the "changes" if we stay in one place; if we return after a period of awayness; if we are "aware".
Great provocative piece Suzanna. Always live your work.