4th and King
James doesn’t know what he wants to do yet,
There are choices in life that he will not get,
Amy wanted to look good for her quarterly,
Radhika on her visa, is all at sea,
—
The wafting farts from the toilet on board,
The reading lines from the bookmarks stored,
A visual into the next round of fund raising,
A haircut for the girls he’ll be chasing,
—
Carefully drawn mascara lines,
Between station stops and parking signs,
Empty seats next to her,
The craft of the make-up — why would you deter?
—
A kindle in hand and podcasts blaring,
Synchronizing tunes and trying a hand at singing,
Multitasking to escape the gaping fear,
That you’re almost 24 and your startup is not on a tear,
Your friends were acqui-hired and made money on the exit,
Saddled with potential, you search for product market fit.
—
Jane discusses her 2 kids,
They left for college and home has hit the skids,
With fond memories she recalls MA admission,
Its been a decade, looked rosy every revision.
Adam takes a passing interest in her story,
What else could he do, the WI-Fi is spotty,
His feed has been exhausted, his likes barren,
His tweets empty and his favorites forlorn.
—
Netflix on the tiny 6, headphones tuned to the max,
He can’t afford to think about affording new slacks,
But his iPhone gives him solitude,
He retreats before reality can intrude,
Truth be told, rent is all he can make,
His dinners are charity lasagna that the neighbor has to bake
—
Cathy is deep in thought with her imaginary friend,
Wondering why Lucas forced it to end,
She consoles and vents swinging side to side,
Stopping on an even keel, we are spectators on this ride,
—
Entering a tunnel, your long paragraph interrupted,
A beautiful distraction for those unwanted,
—
The sun pops out again judging your gaze,
Here you are counting the start of your days,
Dean fires up his Xcode and gets ready to code,
43 errors on the first build, he is in panic mode,
Maybe android will be easier he thinks to himself,
A liberal arts major with General Assembly on his shelf,
—
Mariana tries to furiously make sense,
“We are detracting value from our stakeholders” — That actually makes no sense
She cuts in and out of the conference line to New York,
Her patience wearing thin, she’s still hungover from popping the cork,
Little sleep and placed in this world to “do it all”
Poster child for a movement, if only she can make it through fall
—
Earl does business as usual, contracted out by the city,
He has to check tickets but he isn’t feeling it already,
Teens on a skateboard shirking the law,
Moving bogeys to outmaneuver the conductor he thinks he saw
—
In the end, all passengers along for this ride,
Taking all these quirks in their stride,
As with life, we get out own places to call our own,
Some get a seat, others — a pillar to lean on,
We choose within the realm of sanity,
We make do with what resembles clarity,
Life would be easier if a train is what we got,
Instead of hate, apathy and afterthought,
“4th and King is your final stop” to the gathering hoard
As with Life, eventually we are all passengers on board
