W.H. Auden said that poetry is "the clear expression of mixed feelings." This is the famed Yellow Brick Road of Peekskill, NY. According to local legend it's what inspired L. Frank Baum to place it in his book The Wizard of Oz. Like all legends, this one is a stew of fact, fiction, and wishful thinking. Baum did spend time in Peekskill, attending a military school there, which he hated. Maybe the yellow brick road by the river represented a dream of escape for him. It's also true that yellow bricks were much more common back then and it may have been any number of similar roads that inspired him. No matter for my wife and I this is our Yellow Brick Road and has its own significance. When I'm feeling good about my adopted town and the light is just right, it's a charming little detail. When I'm feeling less generous about where I live and the fact that it's in these United States of 2023, I can imagine walking along it towards a new future and never looking back.