Sisyphus #49
       

Where does he find the strength
seeing the same strange faces
in the rearview mirror
                                      calling streets
shifting gears
                      before and after
stoplights
                stop signs
                                bus stops
his barnacle-covered bus absorbing
and disgorging
                        seeing himself
unsmeared by the wipers' tictic
tictic
        past flat-roofed houses
past a BAR
                  with a red arrow
that blinks
                  like a bird
                  pecking at a seed
past a department store
monolithic and closed
                                      black windows
yellow bricks
                        lighter
where the letters used to be
driving 16 miles directly south
16 miles directly back
finding the strength
                                to mistake
someone else
                      for his ex-wife
navigating headlights and red lights
the streetlights
                        that don't converge
resisting the urge of a black window
pulling him in
                        forming trash
that swirls in his wake
                                      into
a new and improved department store
miles to the west
                            a safer place
where no buses run all night
no one watches
                        a stranger's hands
in the rearview mirror
                                    no one
shifts gears to infinity
hits potholes to stay awake

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Copyright © 2021 Rick Snyder All rights reserved
from Here City
Parlor Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission