Double-take: a guest blog by Jon Obermeyer

Mom said look both ways when crossing the street. It seemed silly at the time.

I should thank her more often.

Looking left I saw a garbage truck barreling along in my direction (seeking barrels). The men were out on strike that year and I wondered if these guys passing in front of me were the other-worldly creatures known as scabs.

Looking right I saw a station wagon with wood paneling slowing for me. The driver could have been part of a diamond heist. He was wearing a suit with a necktie. He was dressed to make loans at the bank. There were bags of groceries in the way-back. Men don't usually drive a car like that, I thought.

Two glances, ten seconds, two different worlds.

Fifty years later, I adhere to my mom's guidance.

I am a fan of redundancy, a perfected double-look to scan and flank the whole field of battle.

It earns you twice the creative source material and it's the safest path to crossing the street, toward Insight and Compassion.

Jon Obermeyer writes and writes from Durham, NC, poems, short stories, memoir. One of the many books he's published is "The Reassurance of Ghosts" (poems) and another is "Briarcliff, a Memoir of 1985-1993."