Fuel | Michael Scherer

tick. tick. tick. tick.

there’s a bomb on the track

tick. tick. tick. tick.

I don’t see it but I know it’s there

I ride a train that hurtles towards it

I do not, I can not slow down

a train fueled by obligations, desires,

a future, a past

tick, tick, tick, tick,

the train speeds up

I read and I read and

I read and I read

great peaks of books pile up

more fuel for the train

tick tick tick tick

the train speeds up

I write and I write and

I write and I write 

essays and poems and emails and plans

more fuel for the train

I hurtle towards the bomb by instinct

held to the train by the gravity

of my choices

tick tick tick tick

just one more thing becomes

one more thing becomes

one more thing becomes

one more thing

more fuel for the train

tick tick tick tick

nobody ever taught me to stop

ticktickticktick