by Levon DeBranch
Nothing failed.
I went Downtown today
for the first time
in months.
I hate taking the bus
Downtown.
By the time I get
to where I'm going
I'm miserable,
and the ride home is
always
just more frosting on
the cake
of someone
I don't much care for.
Today was different
somehow.
Even when I arrived
Downtown, the city
and all its timely-opportunities
seemed
to open-up to me.
I got done with everything
I had to do
rather quickly,
and accomplished
a lot.
Things truly went
my way.
When I boarded the bus
to come back home
I was convinced
the normally tedious
return-trip
would just be more to become
contemptuous about.
Pleasantly,
I was disappointed,
once again.
There was minimal
traffic,
not a lot of people getting
on and off
and the bridge for once
actually
stayed flush.
By the time I got off
the bus,
I had a smile
on my face
not even the voice
of Sanjaya Malakar
could strain.
And for once,
perhaps the first time
ever,
all the most attractive
commuters
weren't riding
on the bus going
the opposite way.
What do you think of
that?
33
miles
and not a single
ass
got pumped
full of lead.
Nothing failed.
Not now.
Not today.
Levon DeBranch is a writer in Connecticut. Not widely-published, poetry of his will soon be appearing in Boston Literary Magazine.