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ZEN ANYWHERE NEW JERSEY
That limo service to JFK
has to pass through Jersey turnpike madness
a sign for Florence, Burlington
not Italy; not Vermont—just Jersey baby.
The turnpike zips along
Cash users keep right; EZ pass veer right;
a minimal mindfuck; serious clusterfuck.
Abandoned silo; powerlines galore
haunt the naked passageway
“Roadway divides 100 feet
Like an imaginary Mason-Dixon line;
Joint base MDL—almost legal state.
Streams of vans & rigs speeding bullets
penetrating the garden state deeply
No road stop required, sorry Joyce
Shore points enticing but warmer waters await
& which six flags fly at Hamilton anyway.
I’m seeing Stars & Stripes on overpass
But the Boss left Freehold years ago
for all the glitter of Broadway
Colored leaves on remaining trees
Amerihealth to the right
Reduce speed soul congestion ahead
A Target on Rutgers U
Just a blur of concrete, asphalt street signs
Lanes shifting; shoulders closing
Atlas couldn’t shrug Jersey off
and Grover honored with a piss stop.
I spy a loadless trucker
& a smashed car off the the side
We need Exit 13 to Goethals
HOV not HIV after the bottleneck
& this Zen anywhere New Jersery daydream
can mercifully be brought to an end.
Okay
Now, I have to go dig out my copy of Howl. That's got Sunflower Sutra in it, I think. S'been a while - decades...slc
Good old Allen Ginsberg.
Good old Allen Ginsberg. Yeah, he was a huge early influence on my writing and I continue to appreciate his work to this day. Hope you dig it out. It still has a lot of resonance.