Helen Losse’s “Corn Ride” from Issue Eight brought back vivid memories of my own childhood. Growing up in Illinois and taking family road trips to Texas every winter helped this poem in transporting me right back to my parent’s blue station wagon. Instead of two young cousins, it’s a brother and sister. Instead of dolls, it’s a week’s worth of spelling homework and travel BINGO cards. We leave Illinois corn behind us as we drive through St. Louis. When we reach the highways on top of highways, I know I’m out of Illinois and on an adventure.  We stare unblinkingly out the windows trying to collect all 50 state license plates passing us in the fast lane.

I appreciate Helen’s play with the corn descriptors: “husking past,” “silk went flying,” and the likening to a Broadway chorus line. I felt like I was ten again but on a new trip with a new cousin off to see the Wizard of Oz on Broadway.  

Thank you, Helen, for that visit down Memory Lane.