road notes

1

the greyhound driver's 22 packets of sugar
in a 12 ounce coffee
in breezewood pennsylvania
told us it would be a strange ride

lane sway amphetamines 3 am
and then the guys behind us saying
all they wanted was "a crib and a bitch"
and one describes raping a woman
after she got pinned behind the wheel
of her car after a wreck on an empty
reservation road in arizona and all
they could do was motherfuck
their way thru life without a clue
hoping their violence doesn't chew a new hole
in the back of their heads dumping out
what's left
on the purple river sewer
desperation highway

2

waking up as we jerked to a stop in philadelphia
and i thought of marian
her halfway spirit to freedom
thirsty boots lost in the summer
between love and the rest of life
and her sister sandy
older street corner revolutionary
mother courage flower
you taught us well

3

the port authority at midtown manhattan is
cleaner than it used to be
the homeless are now hidden away in closets
next to the nike children workers
ravaged mothers and fathers
a handful of susan b anthony dollars
thrown at their bowels
a dead-cold open-hearth from homestead
is now lined with the words of poets
and the suits
well the suits they stay focused
on what's in front of them
wordless
no flinching

--- e b bortz

(published in Jawbone 1998)