Beneath Strange Billboard Lights

By Nick Marino

The wind coursed through my hair as I seared down the highway at night. The green light

of billboards was in my eyes and in the rearview mirror a shining singular point emanated. But I was leaving that now and the wind was cool. I tried not to look back at that point – it hurt my eyes to see. Best to focus on the strange billboard lights that glimmered like bioluminescence surrounding some deep thoroughfare-trench of the sea.

This must be how whales feel, gliding endlessly, contemplating iridescent signs in the oil

spills. Whales must be the most lucid creatures on earth, the most wise and yet indecisive. When a whale falls passionately in love it must almost be like pondering a question of metaphysics. What if all matter was made of fire? And that fire luminous and green...

A billboard up ahead warned of an escaped killer and another advertised potato chips.

And all glimmered off the road in endless fractal-frescoes. Why would I look at that burning point in the mirror when all the amassed brilliance of the earth was disappearing under my wheels?

There was a voice from the passenger seat and pale lips reflecting that luminant green

formed words to me.

“Do not think about exhaust-smoke or the coming day or growing weary on the road. Just drink. Drink this radiant narcotic night. And breathe out great whales to sing by the side of the highway.”

I listened and I closed my eyes to travel anonymous through still stranger nights and

above a luminous desert – vast as a silent sea.

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Nick Marino is a writer and artist whose work often focuses on the blend of the mythological, the irrational, and the surreal. You can find it on Instagram or Substack @nickcollinsmarino.