Early Rain says the block headline font face
tabloid prediction. At Bismarck, we cross
the (narrow) Missouri. Then Painted
Canyon. We refuel at Glendive., pass the
Yellowstone River, rollover Bad Route Road.
We sniff the cosmetics of Powder River. By a
lazy late afternoon, we stop
in Miles City. We swim a few licks
in the Tongue River. Night
falls
on
Sunrise Highway.
From: Crosswalk Casserole
Summary
“SUNRISE HIGHWAY” by Michael C. Ford is a poem centered on place and geography, love and relationships, nature. The poem develops its subject through recurring images and shifts in emotional pressure rather than reducing the experience to a single statement.
Analysis
Voice
The speaker works through observation and associative imagery, allowing scene and image to carry the argument.
Style and form
The poem is line-driven, compressed. Its brevity concentrates attention on juxtaposition, line breaks, and the pressure created by what the poem leaves unstated.
Themes and imagery
Its strongest thematic currents include place and geography, love and relationships, nature, travel and movement. Concrete images give those abstractions physical weight, while changes in diction and pace keep the poem from settling into a single emotional register.
Reading the poem
A productive way to read “SUNRISE HIGHWAY” is to watch how its images change function as the poem progresses. Details that initially establish scene or memory become emotional evidence. The result is a poem whose argument is carried through association, rhythm, and image as much as through explicit statement.
Explore this poem
Source & rights
Source: Crosswalk Casserole (Lawn Gnome Publishing, First Edition, 2013)
Rights: © 2013 Lawn Gnome Publishing. All rights reserved.