Well Spent
Chorus and ballyhoo tonight, a mob of drinkers
swirls along the train platform,
and I’m one of them, loving the night
while getting ready to serve morning with a hangover
That’s future me, though, in the present,
I’m soaked inside and ready for the hipsterstan
that awaits over the river.
Is it over? We can go under too, it’s all still beautiful
La Resistance 8/20/2018
We break sugar packets together,
the father and the son and me, a trinity
the dining car shifts left and we adjust
while looking out at the Cascades
We go through a tunnel and the son
is excited, is this it, the 8 miles
of darkness he read about?
The longest rail tunnel in North America.?
It’s just a regular line that goes
through one of the mountains,
he sighs, we eat, I drink my coffee,
we talk about where we come from
I tell them I’m from Brooklyn,
they tell me they’re from Janesville, WI
I don’t bring up politics
and they keep the subject away
We talk about the orchards around us,
the red apples and green pears,
everything looks plump and ripe
hanging on the verdant branches
More coffee comes and we rip open
more creamers and more sugar packets,
this is how it will be, some day,
this is how it must be, if we’ll go on
Sitting at the table together,
breaking sugar packets in silence,
and yet enjoying a true peace, everyone
able to get a seat without reservations
Again, the boy thinks we’re entering
the Cascades Tunnel, he’s excited,
I’d rather we go through flames,
so I can and see where I’m heading
Ben Nardolilli currently lives in New York City. His work has appeared in Perigee Magazine, Red Fez, Danse Macabre, The 22 Magazine, Quail Bell Magazine, Elimae, The Northampton Review, Local Train Magazine, SLEET MAGAZINE, The Minetta Review, and Yes Poetry. He blogs at mirrorsponge.blogspot.com and is trying to publish a novel.