POEM: leaving York

leaving York

the mullet man from Columbia
in the camo hat
points proudly at the hospital
“that right there is where I was born”
across the aisle another Carolinian
says he was born in Delaware
he didn’t pass his trucker test
so he’s headed back home
camo hat is going home, too
no GED, no truck license means
you may have a friend in Pennsylvania
but you don’t have a job
he’s got two prospects
lined up back home:
climbing cell towers
for three grand a week
or working as an auto mechanic
thinks he’ll take the garage job
’cause he has neck problems
the highway parallels a river
camo hat spots a campsite
where his granddad took him fishing
where he caught his first fish
the man across the aisle says
“if I could stay by a lake
I could just fish, just fish”

5 June 2012
on a bus between York PA and Baltimore MD