On leaving Boston
A.J. Juarez
(I -90 west/ I turned the radio dial to her a fellow say "Thelonious Monk's compositions, famously strange, lulling, and a magnificent tempest. I never did catch the fellow name. So if you are out there, and stumble into this piece, please take credit for the line that inspired the poem.)
We routinely part the ether with fossil driven machines
and create an oxymoron;
a kind of rhythmic melody that syncopates our reflexes,
measuring distance and distinctly abstracting
how we risk our lives going here and there,
with asphalt and rubber, making sonorous
and strangely majestic music,
like a Thelonious Monk composition,
famously strange, lulling, and a magnificent tempest.
In this song, we punctuate time to
the bass of the bus,
the baritone of the eighteen-wheeler,
the soprano of breaks.
These sounds seduce us into daydreams and intimacy,
as the rivers of traffic mark our journey to our plotted destination.
At night, flows of red and white light-
depending on a given direction-
become measures of time and possibilities.
Where are we going?
Home?
To a celebration?
To our last minutes here?
Spewing tons of toxins
We travel as friends of speed
and guests of mendacity.
Where are we going?
Will we play there?
Will be pray there?
Where are we going?
and create an oxymoron;
a kind of rhythmic melody that syncopates our reflexes,
measuring distance and distinctly abstracting
how we risk our lives going here and there,
with asphalt and rubber, making sonorous
and strangely majestic music,
like a Thelonious Monk composition,
famously strange, lulling, and a magnificent tempest.
In this song, we punctuate time to
the bass of the bus,
the baritone of the eighteen-wheeler,
the soprano of breaks.
These sounds seduce us into daydreams and intimacy,
as the rivers of traffic mark our journey to our plotted destination.
At night, flows of red and white light-
depending on a given direction-
become measures of time and possibilities.
Where are we going?
Home?
To a celebration?
To our last minutes here?
Spewing tons of toxins
We travel as friends of speed
and guests of mendacity.
Where are we going?
Will we play there?
Will be pray there?
Where are we going?