Pushpins On A Map Poem by Susan Lacovara

People used to stick pushpins
On a map to memorialize
The tourist towns they visited
The fountains they threw pennies in
While making wishes for love everlasting
Thumbtack take-me-backs
To streaming sunlit pavilions
Places where the heart could be heard beating
Near an open air minstrel's song

I think of your mapped out moments
Our backroad wanderings and wanting
They stretch across the Southern states
GA, TN, FL, NC and back again to old NY
The compass needle as tired from spinning
As I am from saying goodbye
The pushpins many and more than I would have thought
The map mockingly reflects the endless road
That somehow keeps you travelling
Further from the quiet home my heart built
Just for you