Early morning
New Jersey Transit
137 into
the City
Suburban grandmas
shellacked nails, hair
lunch, shop, show
Young girl
facade cracking
running mascara
smeared lipstick
black eye
concealer can't
conceal
crying, cursing into
bejeweled cellphone
Drunk nods
says, "That's right"
looks for cigarette stubs
asks for change
Cold water restroom
no towels
Waiting
for the bus to
take us
somewhere else.
*
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen
6 comments:
Now you know why I moved to CT for 20 years before moving south! ha
ha. see i love all these people...they are the reason i take public transit...
I like the free verse here. It has a kind of fast, heedlessly stumbling flow to it, falling finally into that "Waiting for the bus to take us somewhere else"
Urban transit has always been an adventure. You captured the essence of the experience perfectly.
Anywhere but here?
PS-- could totally that teenager, the way you described her.
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