They have South Dakota plates

but are here with me, at the Nebraska Furniture Mart.

I am looking at them through my window.

 

The two kids,

girls stuffed into an upholstered van with packed chairs leaning over them, 

form shadows nimble and apart amid 

dresser drawers and a small table

also purchased from the Furniture Mart.

 

I hear, through the smell of diesel and gasoline,

they make this trip every year.

The parents talking, checking

each strapped-in kid.

 

There’s room to fit a little more here,

and there,

a table leg, another chair.

The girls look bemused—

it’s a soft armature between them—

They will keep from fighting on the way back.

 

The couple loads up, and then they’re gone.

Out on the wide and open,

the furniture bouncing between them.

 

If you live in South Dakota it is very affordable

To get your furniture

from the Omaha, Nebraska,

Furniture Mart.