written on the train

poems are good

because you can

write them fast

kind of like songs

mark ribot composed

one while waiting

for a friend

to answer the door

and billy strayhorn

wrote lush life

at age 16

walking a few

city blocks

in shimmering

pittsburgh

baggypantsrich

and i

played an open

mic at a

polish restaurant/bar

in pittsburgh

and a wizened

old man

who looked

like he might be

and open mic

bullshit artist

stepped on stage

and played

rambling man

by hank williams

and then

i believed

in 2 ½ minutes

a drifter

accepts his fate

the american universe

of loneliness is

laid down in verse

like railroad lines

sunset pulled