Press On Regardless

A weekend get-away determined to
Press on Regardless
No matter what, or how.
We started full of gas
With a healthy dose
Of spit and vinegar
And not just a little fool-hardy glee.
April Fool’s Day prank--
Our directions were reversed.
Thus we started at the end
And began in Paradise.
So we traveled against the flow
And drove straight into Hell.

Two of us in the back of the van
Found our own way to pass the time
Laughing till tears streamed
When those in the front
Hollered,
"We just got to Climax.”

We got lost
Just the other side of Limbo.
We stopped to ask directions
At the Limbo Lower-
A combination bar, gas station
And stripclub.
Two badly bleached,
Overly plump and
Massively under-dressed
Ladies told us to head straight out of dodge
And take our first left.
Forty-five minutes later
We were back in Limbo.
Gaunt, black caped gentleman
Pointed a gloved finger,
Spoke
In a hollow voice:
Go south when we hit Purgatory.
It was a Hell of a journey.
No,
Not yet
It wasn’t.

Four souls alone in the dark,
No living stream of lights to follow
To Paradise: we, lost souls
Were headed the other direction.

We ran out of gas
Just outside of Purgatory.
The locals jeered
As we walked back to the van
Carrying gas cans
In the pouring rain.

The morning arrived,
The sun a fiery ball
Swimming in a violet and crimson sea.
As
We communed
Over the last can of Coke,
Staring at the bottomless hole where
The spare tire should be.
Press on; regardless.
Through dreaming villages masked
By enshrouding fog
The road wound down.
Four deathly tired,
Starving souls
Ran gasping
Straight into Hell,
Michigan.









NOTE: The Press On Regardless is a car race between the towns of Hell, Purgatory, Limbo, Climax and Paradise, Michigan