by Alan Perry
—Maui, Hawaii
Nearly every turn in the 64-mile highway
produces a little nausea, a chicane
of narrowing switchbacks that move
our equilibrium from brain to stomach.
What are we searching for around
the next bend that curls back on us,
stuck in a subcompact rental
elbows bumping at each S-curve?
The tour guide said a fun experience,
the couples counselor, a new beginning.
Halfway up the road, we stop
at a gritty gas station to ask
only for crackers and sodas
to calm our upset. One of us wants
to press on, notch a belt of success
at the top—the other not so sure
if guts are what’s needed.
Daylight fades in this lush forest
as woods darken, tracing our mood.
Waterfalls, ocean vistas, Seven Sacred Pools
of azure-green are the attractions
we covet—all desires just above
the ash of a dormant volcano.
Alan Perry is a poet and editor whose debut chapbook, Clerk of the Dead (Main Street Rag Publishing, 2020) was a Finalist in the Cathy Smith Bowers Poetry Competition. The Heart of It (Kelsay Books), was a Finalist in the 2025 Best Book Awards for Poetry Chapbooks, and a Finalist in the American Writing Awards for Poetry-General. His poems have appeared in Tahoma Literary Review, Whale Road Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Third Wednesday, Gyroscope Review, San Pedro River Review, ONE ART, and elsewhere. A Best of the Net nominee, he is also a founder and Managing Editor Emeritus of RockPaperPoem.
January House Literary Journal 
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