Member Poem

High Road

boy leaves home or girl

leaves home,

satchel shouldered or scaly
partner clinging,

seeking no-cost transport,

some way to get to the big show,

grit-eyed from the draft of a

hundred robotransports before one stops,

ramshackle or shiny;

something leers out,

casts a line as old as runaways,

something that won't take “I'd rather walk” for no,

that smiles and smiles like they do,

turns off the high way at a little place it knows,

meanwhile, our protagonist, hungry

and thin, thirsty and hot,

has a secret talent/power/fear/shame,

surprise, let's go with that,

wrong species/rank in the food web/scent

and, something rises up to beat on/rape/eat our

hero/ine who, somehow, turns the table over,

setting its young feet/pseudopods/etc

on Destiny's road...

now THAT'S a good story, tell me that one

again and you're hired/spared/paid/released/allowed to die.