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I went to get a haircut today but instead I got cut by the jabberwocky of life. I never even got to the place because of a traffic jam and chaos. There was some idiot bigot parade going on and things got out of hand. I saw police in riot gear. I saw tear gas being thrown into a crowd. I saw burning flags of various colors. I saw a mob overturn a car and set it ablaze.

I held up my finger to no one and said aloud, “Check, please.”

That’s when I got out of my car and walked across the jam and to the other side of the road where there were some railroad tracks. That’s when I started to pretend I was a train. The tracks went in a very straight line toward the horizon and were flanked on both sides by very green trees. It looked like one big green tunnel leading to who knows where. I didn’t know where. As usual, I didn’t know where I was going. I was supposed to be sitting in a barber chair, but instead, I got derailed by an assembly of hate.

It was cold but warm out. It was the second day of spring, and the sun was shining brightly. It was one of those weird kinds of days where I don’t really know what’s going on and I usually end up doing something wrong or crazy.

I felt a vibration in the tracks and heard the horn blowing in the far distance. A train was coming. I hopped off the tracks and scurried up the embankment and sat close to the trees. Soon there was a rushing stripe of oranges and reds and yellows. It was big, heavy metal thrusting like a young man let loose in Berlin. It was guttural, destructive, and industrial. A viper of power. A swoosh of mayhem.

The vibration faded and I went back down to the tracks. Silence ensued. I looked both ways and in each direction it was the same—straight metal lines rummaging through a southern landscape, and I felt life in my guts.

Special thanks to Edge of Humanity Magazine for publishing three of my poems recently: Coffee Shop Rain, The Translucent Wander Pain, and Space Curtain. Please go check them out! Also, a reminder that my new e-book is now available for purchase: The Apocalypse Pipe. The print edition will be available soon. Thanks for reading and supporting independent creators.