I.

Barrage of right-handed hooks: Jesus Christ is Lord

over Greater Orlando paints diamond fence; tee-shirt

on man with bulge reads God is Good; top of tower,

a neon cross – God is Love intersects Christ is Savior

at the is; If the world gives you challenges, make it an

opportunity – sign on grass, Cypress Grove Church;

EXIT 78 on I4: Holy Land Experience, Orlando’s new

theme park; mesh hat on sale: golden retriever with

Woof Would Jesus Do? Receive, recover – choke on

balmy air – recall: something bigger is in your corner.

II.

Sometimes it comes from behind. Michigan St. exit calls

to mind home, reminds you that you’re not there. White

van: man in scrubs picks nose, peers out at tan horse on

side of road. Mosquitoes swarm dead poodle in front of

the Best Haitian Food in Orlando on Orange Blossom

Trail – maggots on a steak tartare displaced. American

poshlost: Melody Motel with mirrored rooms, Shady Lyn

Condos, Club Harem, Kash ‘n Karry, Kwik Stop. Beards

of hanging moss trees went gray long before the streetside

band picked up the beat with auger, hammer, orange cone.

III.

EXIT 92: Casselberry, University of Central Florida plus

jai alai, dog track. Belly overhangs elastic-waist shorts,

discolored polo torn at underarm seam – his greyhound

is faster than the one that can take him far from Apopka.

Win, win, win and you begin to question the prudence

of just one more time. He doesn’t, loses, returns home

via I-75 N. Distraction: We Bare All. Free Showers for

Truckers. Great Food. World Famous Café Risqué in

Florida’s resident colors of teal and peach. Get off, eat,

watch. Steamed carrots, wife extraneous; television not.

IV.

Allumer: Support Our Troops, God Bless America wrought

in Styrofoam on overpass fence. Mullets, cellulite wave, smile –

valiant, indivisible FLIP My Kid Will be a Pop Star on FLIP FLIP

Rumsfeld to Iraqi people: The day of your liberation will soon

be at hand FLIP FLIP FLIP STATIC. Recall: Exit Music for a Film

plays when terror alert level is raised to orange; Detroit: south

on I-75, approach EXIT 69 Big Beaver Road when meat, metal

make the irreversible thunk of too late, almost, if only I’d…

There is humor in the exit, but not in the setter, shocked stiff

and spinning inexorably to the pavement’s center, home.