The Commute

On my nightstand, my cell phone alarm echos
before the first peaking crumb of morning sunlight -
I smell coffee laced air after a long restless night
and stumble down the foggy hall of a work week’s shadow.

-

Endless road...

Drive...

More endless...

Drive...

Lines on asphalt, road signs,..

Drive...

turn signals, cruise control...

-

I brush my teeth, urinate, and quietly behold
as I hesitantly sit atop my porcelain throne,
wiping flakes from my eyes as I brave the unknown,
a king without a country looking for shinier gold.

-

Lukewarm toothpaste coating a dry, caked mouth...

Drive...

Dry gagging three hard times before I can reach the sink...

Drive...

I couldn't be a bulimic, much less scrape my gag reflex with anything bigger than a pencil...

Drive...

I run cold water over my already cracked lips...

-

The hazelnut flavored brew hits my bloodstream,
waking me for the current journey that lies ahead
as I exit my roofed comfort zone that contains a still warm bed
and prepare to travel with others who are stuck in their own daydream.

-

Wipe your eyes once more...

Drive...

Check your mirrors...

Drive...

How much gas do I have?..

Drive...

Reverse. Neutral. Forward. Here we go...

- 

Four wheeled capsules coming down numerous exit ramps,
the brake lights, the horns, the fading night,
all swarming bees leaving a hive that no longer sits upright
and has long been kicked in with heavy boot stamps.

-

Highway whatever West... set cruise for seventy-five.

Drive... off ramp

Interstate whatever North... set cruise for eighty-two.

Drive... off ramp

Highway whatever West... set cruise for eighty three.

Drive... off ramp

West turns to East in nine hours, as does North to South, so I let the playlist chase away my anxiety...

-

City streets, highways, bi-way shoulders and ditches,
buses, cabs, trains, abandoned ghost vehicles roadside,
two lanes, the backroads, the subways, however we all abide,
us cutting the earth in order to receive invisible riches.

-

Pass a commuter in the slow lane...

Cuss and drive...

Pass a commuter in an open fast lane...

Compliment and keep driving...

Commuter fails to enter empty slow lane so you do not have to come off cruise control...

Cuss heavily, shake your head, continue driving...

Your exit is up ahead... finally...

-

Morning sunrises in my fingerprinted rearview mirror
transforms into sunsets by countless days end,
wishing it was the other way around and break the trend
so my perceived windshield view would change and finally be clearer.

-

Leaving work ten minutes early to avoid traffic...

Hit traffic...

Cuss...

Drive...

Even more traffic...

Cuss...

Drive...

-

The commute to work gives you time to adjust and not wake up abrupt
and from work gives you time to decompress and wind down -
bad drivers, tired souls, ear budded workers wandering the town, 
hindered by never ending tail lights and constant red light stops interrupt.

-

Drive...

More tail lights...

Drive...

Even more tail lights...

Drive...

Always red...

Off ramp home...

-

I pull in the garage, turn the key, and open the door
knowing, that the next day, everything will be the same,
me hoping I can avoid all the traffic like paparazzi’s fame,
the beehive always waiting for me until I finally sleep under Earth's floor.

-

I drive...

and drive...

and drive some more...

The miles always adding up...

The same destinations...

Then I find myself thinking,

as I'm driving...

-

What would happen if I didn't stop?..
-
... and kept going,
-
into the sun I'm always chasing...
-
as I earn that invisible gold...
-
a king without a country...
-
another daydreaming commuter...
-
waiting to gag on his toothbrush the next morning, yet again, and know that another day has officially begun...
-

-

Drive...

-

and drive some more, you fool, 
I continue thinking,

-

because tomorrow is only Tuesday...

-

...and more road lies ahead. 

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endless...