new jersey is an alley cat
heart as big as a semi-truck
rolling down I-287 to asbury
park
it's got arms the size of
shoulders
wiring and transmission hanging
out
shirt tucked under a pack
of marlboros
it's got james darin hair
frank sinatra chin
and teeth like mack the knife
new jersey is a 24 hour toll
stop
on I-95 through rahway
a weigh station lit in neon
not slick enough for park
avenue
but too smart for staten island
it's got wires tied across
its forehead
linking cell sites to pennsylvania
it's got thighs the size of
tires
unshaven with cellulite pockets
held firm by pins of copper
new jersey is country girl
overflowing her britches
her breasts firm under a teeshirt
she hasn't read albert camus
or even t.s. eliot
but chants the bhagavad-gita
while driving down route 22.
new jersey is a slow leaking
tire
on the shoulder of I-78
passing gas through a nylon
pipe
dripping oil on your dash
its poets are born in freehold
hold readings in strip malls
new jersey is a mad dash
up and down route 1
from trenton to edison
road rage is the language
its poet laureates write |