Travelogue
Tones creep around my bus
talk of people without headphones
Light circles illuminate Erasmus
Smoke slinks from the restroom
My walkman wanders through tapes
culling sounds that travel well
Pink Floyd and Marillion
find their way to my ears
All of Pennsylvania I ever see
are Peterson's and G.O.D.'s trucks
vying for attention
while trees and truckstops merge
I sort the differenes
but become lost in the images
trucks don't grow leaves
God doesn't deliver
322 merges with the Turnpike
Cars go by hours at a time
blurs bundled together with bright eyes
they avoid my roving stare
Squirms try to settle me in
then I remember a pillow overhead
curl up to the window
legs lost in another seat
and try to hear what sounds
down can make
Perimeter walks and albatrosses
eke out a living in musical dreams
Wrapped in this cocoon I change again
from student to son
My blue and white Penn State skin sloughs off
reveals Merchantville's silvered gray
and maroon
Coming home reminds me where I am when away
Home is where my names reside
where their peculiar spores
scent another places as mine
I have many names and many homes
though none lurk
like Merchantville
This trip can't last much longer
I set aside the remaining time
and watch the world grow more familiar
waiting for Whitman
The Schuylkill catches homes
immersed in the wake of passing boats
while giant red letters
topped by WMMR's radio tower
announce "Philadelphia"
The bus heaves a sigh
A ride
a poet's bridge
and twenty minutes
to home