I wipe my hand across the hazy window
To reveal the string of endlessly changing houses and trees
As the dissonance of childish shouts
Rushes over the waves of dull teal seats
And somehow still crashes its way into my eardrums
Despite my earbuds roaring with melodies
People always have the same sound
A chaotic medley of voices
Fueled by empty promises
And obliviously superficial lines
There’s no resonance with them
No meaning or passion behind anything they say
The Mount Pocono billboard looms ahead in the distance
As I shut my eyes
Knowing that when I open them again
Everything will be exactly the same
Like I’ve been stuck in some infinite time loop
For the past sixteen years
Walking down Winona Road
I breathe in the bitterly frigid air
That sends a burning sensation to my lungs
I pull out my earbuds
And peer up at the foggy sky
I’m left with an eerie presence
A haunting memory
With the sole echoing sound
From my sneakers crackling on the damp asphalt
As if everything around me is abandoned
Like this little town has sunken its way into absolute solitude
I wish I could really be alone
I wish people would stop pretending that they aren’t selfish
Stop acting like they care so much about anyone
When everyone knows
That at the end of the day
The only person you really need to save is yourself
Cars riskily race by
Blowing my mess of hair back roughly
With their headlights beaming brightly in my eyes
Before they finally swift by in a flash
I want to leave
I want to somehow fall into one of the many potholes
That plague the roads of Pennsylvania
To not even leave a trace of my shadow behind
To escape to some magically technicolor wonderland
That might finally feel more real
Than this sickening hologram of life
Poetry Atlas has many other poems about Pennsylvania.