The northwest Georgia hills surround me
A cradle for a bulldog and a raccoon and a mimosa tree and what all
I’m from here too, a bulldog and a raccoon and a mimosa
The controlled burn of the pine tree farm crackles through my head
Firebreaks cut across my hands like a whip
Like a courtyard in my high school
My destinys to work a steam shovel
It’s all I’ve wanted since boyhood
Barefoot on the blacktop
Playing horse and aiming nerf guns at my brother
The Appalachian feet surround my home
I want to tear them down
Tear through them with John Henry and the infernal digging machine
Dying for stone is pretty way to the tomb yard
Eleanor Roosevelt is buried in my towns cemetery
3/4 of the way up the hill on the right
The hills of heaven and the mountainous cities of hell are from here too
Them and every single bump in the road

The sun-baked bayou rots in sun-dried tomato heat
This is not a traditional geometric form
No cube, no circle, this shouldn’t be possible
The swamp’s stink lines blur with the waving heat of the pavement
Fresh out the oven
Flattops from the flatlands
Flamingos from the herons
Is Gaea up on new trends?
Wetlands are out we’ve got shiny new sewers
Glistening, gleaming, glowing with 4 star reviews
The development company’s shade trees are still saplings
Shade! Coming here in 15 to 20 years! Mark your calendars
I got the fast pass for the highway so I can look for parking quicker
I heard there’s parking lot with a million spots
My kids’ eyes widen in wonder, Really Daddy?
I nod with a knowing smile, thinking
Wait till they learn about Cyber Monday
Orthogonal forms dominate here
I wonder if herons wake up early for Black Friday?

by which I of course am referring to this keyboard
that i’m writing on now
funny how that works ain’t it
62 minutes until my shift ends
John Prine & the Korean war don’t quite match where I am
clicking pool cues penetrate my headphones
I wonder how many bad games of pool it takes to shake a man’s confidence
by my estimate the answer is never enough
guys that can’t shoot love teaching girls how not to shoot
but the girls don’t usually seem to mind
how very 60’s highschool of it all
maybe Mr. Prine does have something here to say
47 minutes until my shift ends
people trust engineers warns my engineering professor
people trust you to know things he furthers
people trust us to explain
I wish they wouldn’t
tech support & translators for parents & grandparents
people want answers but only when they thought they already knew
40 minutes until my shift ends
pretty good, not bad, I can’t complain
seeing my old highschool teachers at the burrito place where I worked
sinking in the mire of chicken, brown rice, & black beans for minimum wage
ain’t it funny
I can smell the 45 pieces of steak & chicken I grilled when I get home
ain’t it funny
the outrage over the price of guacamole
33 minutes until my shift ends

Asphalt, steaming screams swear words
The offensive smell of pavement post downpour
I think I’d like life better if it rhymed
The chatter and clatter mad hatters me
Sleepless and hopeless with Romans
And their online roads and aqueducts
They slither and snake but there is no more wild in the west
Automated scarecrows with AR-15’s stand guard
O’er amber waves of grain
Eyes open for outlaws and injuns
Cattle ranching of the future
Feeding the world one cubic meter of methane at a time

I know not what the world shall knead me into
What form and what shape and what color I'll end up
I can guess and speculate and give my opinion
But I don't think it's for me to decide
I will just have to keep staggering forward
Every step excruciatingly finite and detailed
While all I can see is nothing
I can't see where I'm going
I can't even see the floor
I know that it's there
I know I'm walking in a direction
And at a certain speed
But I don't even know what I think about it
All I know is I'm along for the journey
So I guess I'll pack my bags

I think we're on a dark road
Use at least 2 pieces of evidence to support your conclusion
Remember you have a glossary
This is a writing assignment not a research paper
My phone is too important to me
And too important for those around me for that matter
It's weird to disconnect
Weird to unwire
Remember class no plagiarism or you will be violating the school's code of academic honesty
I wish I could throw my phone into the sky-colored sea
Feed the electric eels as it were
And people would say 'okay'
But the soul is as digital as our pictures these days
Not photographs but pictures
Pictures and memes and nonsense for nonsense sake
Convenience and luxury at an impossible cost
If you feel absolutely convinced you need to do outside research,
You need to make a bibliography
And cite your sources

I'm on the Metra today
The snow outside is teal or green
Like the Caribbean in cartoons
But here 2 ladders lean on the same tree
A lover's suicide
The coldest Caribbean I've ever seen
The church's sign scrolls by
"ght in the Lor"
And we're gone
The train rumbles on
Bridges cover bridges
New! Tower of Babel (coming soon!)
A couple thinks they're subtle 3 rows up
Michael Jackson marries Elvis's daughter
He didn't go to the wedding
There's no Jewels Osco's in Georgia
But the houses here exude the same drab comfort
A deer stands next to a storage locker
The train rumbles on
I'm smuggling beer back to the dorm
Like the good college student my mom wants me to be
I don't have my phone on me
I've never felt more alone
Or free
I explain what happened to the guy who checks tickets
I dropped it in the floorboard of my friend's car
Right before the train arrived
He believes me thank god
I focus again on what's outside the window
And now it's just trees
Skeletal and bare
The train rumbles on