other elsewhere : the macrocosm

night:
waffle house waffle
conversation+coffee customers comfort
single digit expense
southern states stretch
thread to elsewhere
lost at the end
of exit ramp from:to
here
day:
prisoners bound arriving in recycled schoolbuses
guards with guns bookend
while anonymous trash is gathered by men dressed identically
non-person. non-place
stop for fuel
rubbery corndog and fountain drink
become a meal
driving through unfamiliar land, rooster carved from a log with a chainsaw
by a man named jake. he's working on a squirrel
and his actual name is jake
down the road that narrows to two lanes
forest creeps closer to the road
only to be bound by a chainlink fence with a Y barbed wire
lest something infiltrate the military territory
or the trees begin to escape
paratrooper plane hovers and 17 small dark spots tumble from an opening
chutes appear and they drift
to the ground
taking the road to the land between lakes
once claimed by natives, then by tva
specific places posted for viewing bison and elk and i wonder
if they can read to know when
to show up
in illinois i met a dwarf
at the truck stop
not driving but accompanying the load he was
pumping gas into the tank of the dual wheeled white truck
with alabama tags
wonder if
he ever dreams of being
elsewhere
but don't we know that we're there
searching
for punctuation