Light R48 on the Storrow Drive Underpass

“Light R48 on the Storrow Drive Underpass,” first published in Cider Press Review 

Poem written by Wendy Drexler, used with permission from the author

Praise the beam of that light that slices
through late afternoon traffic.

and the faint scatter of that light
on the roadbed graded to a gradual bend.

Praise the gradual bend.

And praise the worker who climbed
up the catwalk at 4 a.m. to tape

the stencil, R48, high on the tunnel wall.
spray-painting R48 in rusty red,

and then mounted the back plate,
connecting the cable to the power source,
completing what is

every day taken for granted, among all
the hours, perishable, yet to come.