Off a Side Road Near Staunton

My friend Jim Barszcz, editor of the College Hill Review, just sent me a link to this Stanley Plumly piece in the Washington Post's Poet's Choice feature: 'Off a Side Road Near Staunton' by Stanley Plumly. (You may need to register with WaPo to view the article.)

I'm surprised I didn't see the article. I'm surprised I didn't see Plumly, since I live "off a side road near Staunton." Plumly recounts getting off the highway (he doesn't name I-81, but that's the road) to look at the landscape:

It was a golden day, actually. The fields falling away in front of me were one kind after another -- pasture, lapsed meadow, cut corn, a few trees, then forest, then pine and hardwood going on and on up the mountains.

Yep, that's it. He says he went home and wrote the poem, "Off a Side Road Near Staunton," which you can read by clicking on the link above.

Plumly's not the only one of late to pull off I-81 and write about the experience. I blogged recently about a Sam Shepard story in Zoetrope: Thor's Day (Highway 81 North, Staunton, Virginia). So much attention for our little neck of the woods!

(Thanks, Jim!)