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81 Exit

Daniel Bliss

Meet me near the 81 exit again,
in the same diner booth as always
held together by the same aged tape.

Surrounded by the weary truckers,
we’ll share another midnight coffee
the last drips of sour ounces
burnt at the bottom of the pot.

Each time, I’m spending fewer
minutes here in Pennsylvania,
I found a way to make them shorter
by rushing towards tomorrow.

Over the second-hand flirtation
of lot lizards, I always swear
I learned a lesson from
wherever I was yesterday.

We shared teenage years in Carlisle,
lives once headed in the same direction.
But I refused to learn the end of any road
and you settled for the bridges of Pittsburgh.

Honestly, it took me
nearly three decades of life
to finally find a part of myself
to be proud of.

Your eyes are always stuck on seeing me
as the same adolescent, and I’m not
sure, I care enough about this anymore
to keep trying to convince you otherwise.

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