When Writers Meet Art
Saul Steinberg, Western Highway in Pyramidal Form, c. 1968
Western Highway
Jeannie Hund
Lived in the West
for a year and a half.
A small city in Idaho,
on the Snake River plain.
Went there for a job
that didn’t suit me.
Stayed in the Stardust Motel
’til my furniture arrived.
Stared out the coffee shop window
at the Mormon Temple.
Ended up in an apartment
facing the K-Mart parking lot.
Liked my license plate
with “Famous Potatoes” on it,
but couldn’t find one restaurant
with a spud-worthy dish.
People were friendly.
Families were big–
only gallon-sized ice cream
in the supermarkets.
Paintbrush skies
and shattering sunsets
couldn’t fill the lonely spaces.
As a Japanese visitor said
in the local newspaper—
“You have so much of…nothing.”
