Pittsburgh 12

the young tell me their stories about crust punks

and cults, the edge, food not bombs,

bands from the past and eating from the dumpsters

there is one in the Strip where they throw

chocolate fudge sometimes, a young woman

reports somewhat disinterestedly over dinner

a stray memory rests over the leftover food

and i want to know from her whether she

wants to die before she turns 30, the familiar story

of the need to escape before you travel the world

hope for love at least in tea spoons and learn to

separate the art of existing from disenchantment

not wanting to confront the day when friends stop

talking because of things they never cared about earlier

the wisdom of keeping faith in long never ending treks

the aversion towards finite milestones to measure

all that was lost on the way; the unspoken fear

of a child when the sudden storm blows the fuse

spring arrives before the question could be posed

Vijay Nair