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