Charcoal Suits

Three hours in my red shaking car Across endless highway and nothing scenery My brother sat in the passenger seat As we sang Madonna And talked of things Like inspiration and told stories The road we traveled swooped Over underpasses and through Tollbooth after forty-cent tollbooth The outside biting air Made the four door shiver Windows shudder And wheels quiver Up around around the winding staircase The song changed And we blessed the interior With synchronized dances Off the top of our heads Marveling People with straight mouths Others with sunken eyes Clip-clopped on the sidewalks Got off train doors and windows The harsh wind pulled on the door handles Grinning and grating his teeth in my rearview mirror The steam from our singing mouths Fogged up the glass and blocked him out The map lay across legs Like a quilt my grandma made As pointed fingers traced the ink roads Matching the way the rivers flow But ending without warning on the next page Under up around around The winding staircase We sailed past Wrigley Field As giant buses criss-crossed chalky streets A shiver shake from the driver's seat And it wasn't from the wind this time The sky grew dark and fogged the windows up Our singing mouths lay silent now While plastic bags and paper cups Jumped up from the gutters to ride the rushing wind Crowds raced their feet Kept their hands buried deep In sweatshirt pockets, Intently watching the sidewalk like a rug Before it's yanked out from under them People with straight magic marker mouths And sunken pool pocket eyes Clip-clopped on the sidewalks. They got off trains that flew over everything And in-between brick buildings A tired man at the phone Hugged his coat and spoke Calmly to the other end with hints of anger and intent I hung up the greasy phone We walked through revolving Walgreen doors The woman behind the counter eyed us this time