NEXT STOP

an airtight smile
loiters on her
empty face.

at first it transfixes
then perplexes
the beholder.

she sits amidst crowded pews
listening to closing doors
and bells of departures
compelled to run away
from an eventual past.

a phantom destiny
lies beyond this
foreclosed present.

armed with valuable nothings
she chooses a car to anywhere
as a random map unfolds
to unknown destinations.

ferries and trains
or the kindness of strangers
there's always some place else to go.

but there is solace
in the usual haunt
away from pursuers
away from the rain.

bed and breakfast
and little yellow pills
from the men in white coats
who know her so well.

she goes through the motions
she's been there before
til she gladly leaves
for the next destination.

Reviews

[NeiL ArandA]

There's a movie iwatched a long while . A wo man in mental institution who manage to escaped the asylum . And the thing that would give her the freedom she desperately wants is to take and board the train unnoticed . And to my amusement she did escaped and found new life and new beginning . She found escaped in her mind and found another way out to escape her mind that put her in the asylum in the first place .

[Aziz Luther]

A wonderful poem. The sad message well put together. Good job

[Matthew Kult]

Hello Mockingbird,

Gracefully wandering over an endless road of a drilling past.

Always,

Matthew
A.

[Muse]

for the first time in a long time I finished reading something and thought.."that's it?"
I was so intrigued I didn't want it to end. This destination seems unfinished. But so is life...we are always left at the end of the day feeling unsatisfied...there has to be something more....the destination without an address....it always seems to keep us in purgatory.

[gombeggar]

so ver glad i stepped into yer library of posts here

[rubie]

this is a very profound piece. it has a movement, a pulse, which enhances its message. it is a rare poet who can use form to convey meaning, and you have done so brilliantly here.

such a sadness about the piece. the pills, the white coats, the endless trudging from one stop to the next....until she gets to the final destination.....

[Distant horizons]

What a mesmeric piece. A wonderful journey that is over too soon, but replaced by thoughts of the next escape. Such a smooth flow in your words.

[Shmoke-Sifted Heftlande..]

please come back and give us more of your writing soon..even though I'm a bit too much a sponge and I've been getting in cars with strangers myself

[Stanley Wilson]

great well penned work flowed very well

[Kiari Sabon]

The constant turning of repetitive daily life the pills to hold you in because they say you just fit in. But is it you who is broken or the world... i believe it is the world.. nice write