MIDNIGHT AWAKENING
I’m twelve, riding alone on a Greyhound
from Tulsa to California
to visit my aunt. My eyes drown in
a view of forty passengers, cigarette smoke,
plastic jewelry, shopping bags of dirty clothes,
torn T-shirts.
The man across the aisle strips off his shirt,
revealing a waist to neck collection of tattoos: razor wire,
skulls, mermaids, naked women, clowns laughing at death,
satanic pitchforks, balls of snakes.
I see his girl friend running her fingers over his chest
as they disappear under a quilt.
I remain sleepless, enthralled
by the groans, squeals, and rhythmic
movements that emanate from beneath their tent,
choreographing something mysterious.
A strange feeling comes over me
as I watch this mass of mankind sleeping;
I imagine characters capable of murder,
launch my life journey of comedy and caution.
All night I sit on the edge of my seat imagining
wrestling positions and games
that tattooed people play as the bus speeds
past mountains that pierce the sky.
©2023 W Roger Carlisle All rights reserved.
W Roger Carlisle is a 75-year-old, semi-retired physician. He currently volunteers and works in a free medical clinic for patients living in poverty. He is on a journey of returning home to better understand himself through poetry. He hopes he is becoming more humble in the process.