When you're looking for signs, for guideposts to point you in the right direction, there is nothing more reliable than a freeway billboard. I'm sure my life has been extended because I heeded the call of a billboard cow to 'eat more chikin.' Chicken is very good for you. But perhaps the greatest thing billboards have done for this country is keep the spirit of poetry alive in the hearts of motorists as they sped upon their appointed rounds. I mean, from what I've read in the history books, you could be driving along a country road when suddenly you came upon a series of signs reading:
If your whiskers
turn to thicket
your love life
is a sticky wicket.
Because of billboards like that America eventually overcame the Axis powers to win World War Two. This is not hyperbole. A nation filled with rhyming jingles is a nation filled with the 'can-do' spirit. Just ask any red-blooded American boy to complete the classic limerick that begins: 'There was a young man from Nantucket' and you'll see for yourself. We thrive on balladry, especially when it comes from billboards. Billboards tell us who to vote for. Where to eat. How to overcome erectile dysfunction. And succinctly explain mortgage rates. That is why this book by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Billboard Empire, is so important and fascinating. She details the intricate machinations of modern billboarding with a fine Italian hand. I recommend this book to anyone who tires quickly of trees and mountains while driving, who yearns instead for the commonplace poesy of the masses as epitomized by that endangered species, the American billboard.
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