Down at the chain restaurant slash gift shop just off the highway

To abandoned bowling alleys

And self-storage facilities

Things seem fine actually

Old-timey farm implements with unfathomable functions bolted to faux-wooden walls

Families with phones propped up against stacks of laminated menus

And restrooms harshly lit cubes full of loud pop

Not a lot of evil black smoke

Few lies from sloppy mouths

Free refills

And discreet suicides before an unending stream of traffic going over the bridge

Like at the end of “The Judgment” by Franz Kafka

(1883-1924)

Have a good day

Part of the Beast

by Brad Liening

from