a thousand cab rides away — a poem by Rob Plath

do you ever feel like not going home?
like you’d die if you went home?
if you faced the four silent walls of each room?
do you ever feel like you’d do anything not to be home some
nights?
whatever the cost?
you’d go broke just to stay away?
did you ever feel like screaming or crying b/c the steps
towards home are full of pain?
unbearable pain?
yr life full of pain?
did you ever want to just follow a stranger in the crowd?
go wherever they go as long as it’s anywhere away from yr
path home? tonight i would’ve bought 29 meals, taken 40 cab rides,
sat in the bookstore all night
not even reading just staring out of the dark window at
the city lights just not to go home
did you ever feel like not going home?
maybe you don’t mind going home
maybe you don’t get me
maybe you don’t get that a cab ride or 1,000 cab rides
makes no difference
i wish i could be like you
i wish i wanted to go home
i wish i was dying to go home



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Rob Plath is a prolific writer and Literary Editor for The Commonline Journal. He is the author of eight chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections. His novel Swallowtude (2016) and his poetry collection The Skeleton Sutras (2016) are both forthcoming from Epic Rites Press. His webpage is www.robplath.com.