High School

By Jeffrey Thompson. Published on April 3, 2023.

I took driver’s ed.

from a man later proven

to be a criminal and liar.

The shortest distance

between two points

is a straight line

he joked as I watched

the rented Buick

drift and felt the wheel

pulled either direction

under my useless hands.

In the rear view mirror

I see a figure

waving, alone

on the center line.

It starts to rain.

I close my eyes and punch

the accelerator.

Jeffrey Thompson grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, before it became a watchword for cool. He was educated at the University of Iowa and Cornell Law School. He lives in Phoenix, which is very hot, where he practices public interest law. His work has appeared or will appear in journals including Passengers, North Dakota Quarterly, Main Street Rag, FERAL, Unbroken, On the Seawall, Tusculum Review, Burningword, ONE ART, Maudlin House, and Trampoline. His hobbies include reading, hiking, photography, listening to Leonard Cohen, and doom-scrolling the ruins of Twitter.