I am reading Dr. Seuss
on this train
back to where I’m from.
Marvin K. Mooney was written
to encourage Nixon to leave office.
Ten days later
he resigned.
When I saw this children’s book
just laying near my building
I resigned myself to fate
and realized it was time
to quit the big city.

This train takes me back
to my hometown
though I know
it can never be the same.
I have no one left there.
I burned bridges
and trashed tunnels
as I made my escape.
No one will pick me up
at the terminal.
No one will offer a guest room.
No one will care
that I’ve scurried back
tail twixt high tops.

Everyone will recognize me
and no one will talk to me.
I have no one back at home
anymore
which, probably,
will make it much like my years
in the big city.

Maybe I’ll get a job.
Maybe I’ll mend some fences.
Maybe I’ll make some new friends
and find the things that I liked
from my childhood
when I read books by Dr. Seuss
and looked forward to the future.

But my future has just exiled me
back to the past.
What have I done?
Where am I going?

I guess I’m going home.