On the Bus & Train (by guest Poet Ruth D. Caraballo)

I stare with what I hope comes across as empty eyes lost in its own possibilities not preoccupations. I know they think that I think they're looking at me and I at them. They are. I'm not.

They've BEEN looking.

Since I can remember I was a topic of conversation warranted or unwarranted as a child and an adult it felt like spotlights from cameras followed me. Whether I'm in a large crowd or alone in a world of too many familiar faces who do what they do best.

So I'll close my eyes and hope I don't doze off, catch a cat nap and miss my stop. Like a dream I had or a song I wrote it's an undeniable truth. I have to work hard not to look at you.

See it's a distraction from all the things running in my head and heart. Distant memories of the past and future to come leave me indifferent and inspired.

It is what it is till it ain't.

Because I'm caught up in dreams realized, reality made factual and life normalized.