New Jersey (in just a few words)

Piles of old Highlights magazine sitting between me and a grease monkey,

pill junkie, with the tattoos of names on his arms, I pay him money to fix my car,

and then drive away, never to see him again, Remember When

That woman with no teeth

pulled up to us in that brand-new Jeep,

When we were in the parking lot of 7/11

(she was a tweeker) and told us her husband beat her?

Yeah what the fuck, that was weird!

Did you see me

Throwing trash from the overpass

down onto cars on Bloomfield Ave,

wearing camouflage cargo-pants

with the Rut’s Hut tee-shirt on?

I might as well have a Garden State license plate tattooed on my arm,

just to sound the alarm

and say HELLO!

I’M NOT FROM FUCKING FLORIDA!