i hit the door rushing
the 2:20 departs in a few minutes
i must find gate 15
this is it she replies
i sigh in relief
i try not to sweat
i don't want to stink before i get to my destination
i see the coachman of the crowded coach move toward me
wait -- he says
i look at him -- my watch -- at him -- my watch
we may not have anymore space he exclaims
i stand there as if he is not speaking to me directly
he boards the bus
and counts the number of seats
i drop my oversized blue athletic bag on the concrete
just outside of the exiting gateclose to the bus
i stand inside the station in limbo
impatient and anxious as i look behind me at the other would-be passengers
as we play a lottery of sorts
to see how many people can fit on an assigned bus
named after a fast dog
yet it never seems to move as quickly as its namesake
after a couple minutes the coachman walks down the steps
removes his rectangular sunglasses
i adjust my round frames and anticipate his comments
there is one seat left he says with a smirk
i confidently smile
and without reservation present my stub
he makes small talki half listen
i get on the bus
and i don't look back at the journeymen behind
i am the lucky one
the one who got the last seat
the winner of the 6 hr bus ride lottery

a dragging in tx

i could see all of the tension
in his body
and in the chain
the tightness and stiffness in his jaw
the wild glare in his eyes
the mosquitoes circling his dusty-musty black body
sun-dried and reeking of cheap tobacco juice
compliments of dirty southern men
in pure white sheets
who delight in taking the side roads
the beaten paths
too often traveled
in the weeping darkness
that can't mediate
between the voiceless victims
and the gutless human creatures that ravage
human beings for sport
in killing fields
where nightmares are nurtured and harvested
perpetuated and pre-meditated
hushed and silenced
as they envelope and engulf black bodies
strong and well-designed
like the eye-catching body-dragging chains hooked up to fords and chevys
that pull grown men
and dismemberdismantledecapitate
husbands fathersbrothers sonsmen
like rag dolls devoured by pit bulls
who contortjerkbreak necks snap bones
and split open down the seams
as passionate red and white entrails
mop the pay dirt in
the good old u s of a