April is Poetry month on the spot poetry project #3

On Vacation: Poem #3

I gasped as I ran
down neverending stairs
because I was going to miss
my flight and be stranded
at one of those fast food
restaurants that charged
you so much because they
knew you had no choice
and would have to pick
one of them.
But I was stubborn and
waiting for the woman
with the tussled hair
to call my name. I would
no more empty my pockets
and be broke due to such
travesties of consumption.
I would rather starve,
wake up later bloated
set to open my dam into
the sea. Why is life so
petty and incomprehensible
it would slight me and try
to erase dreams or bury them
under a succession of ten pound
sand bag eyes until I could not
breathe, or reach out to punch
off the alarm clock in an early
morning frenzy of irritability.
I did not want to live out of
my suitcase indefinitely or even
for a moment, yet I was tired
of pointing the insane masses
to the right terminal.
As they rambled on, I would offer
barely a phrase, except for
a sheepish smile and a grunt into
the sullied air. I was infected by the
presence of strangers and would be
for some time after...
by Micah Zevin 2010