i) Acadian Peninsula It was a 10 hour drive to the Miramichi river
All through the night, being passed and passing
Listening to music and talking in the car
Checking directions every few hours or so Around 5am we caught first sight of it
Coming off the end of the Plaster Rock Highway
Dark and wide, spruce on both banks
Driving alongside, we followed its flow French on the stereo: j’ai le mal du pays
Road signs for Neguac and Tabusintac
The road that goes on to Caraquet
And Tracadie beach, where we once danced on the snow. (ii) Lost Highway The highway has its daytime imperatives –
labour to the lumber, lumber to the mill. A 100 mile line, cut through forest.
Rough tracks off it, we tried further in. Night fell fast – we drove in circles.
Praying for asphalt and the small chance of an oncoming headlight
you sometimes get on the Plaster Rock Highway. (iii) Leaving Burnt Church Behind the house
are 15 acres of trees.
Two burnt out trucks,
and a half-circle of empty
bottles.
No other houses.
No girls or boys playing.
There’s wind in the trees
and a slate sky.
A football beside
some blueberry bushes.
Thin grass,
yellow and pale.
And the frame of a play-hut –
of twigs and twine. To kick it, or not?
The ball will stay
where it ends up
till we come back here again.
