Cat Lost His Hat

When I'm walking around Speedway and other places, 

there's no telling where artwork by various artists will show up.

Highway workers are laying a new roadbed on 

Crawfordsville Road that reminds me

of Andy Goldsworthy's work. 

But I never thought that the ubiquitous orange barrels 

that line highways all over the United States

would ever have found their origins

in Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat.  

I like the rich, shiny blackness of new asphalt, 

here shown with the tan pea gravel 

and limestone base layers. As a kid,

I loved the smell of tar used by the street

pavers who had a company down the block

from my grandmother's house.

Here cord has been tightly strung along the roadbed, 

to mark the intended height of the pavement.

A sensor on the paving machinery 

will use the cord as a guide to the correct depth

and, as I understand it, will adjust accordingly

as it moves along.