Stephen Dunn: "The Sacred"

 

















After the teacher asked if anyone had
            a sacred place
and the students fidgeted and shrank

in their chairs, the most serious of them all
            said it was his car,
being in it alone, his tape deck playing

things he’d chosen, and others knew the truth
            had been spoken
and began speaking about their rooms,

their hiding places, but the car kept coming up,
            the car in motion,
music filling it, and sometimes one other person

who understood the bright altar of the dashboard
            and how far away
a car could take him from the need

to speak, or to answer, the key
            in having a key
and putting it in, and going. 

"The Sacred" by Stephen Dunn, from Good Poems, American Places, Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor. © Penguin Books, 2012.  

Photography credit: "I love driving alone at night...," by heresallison (originally black and white).