Standing in Line for a Very Long Time That No Longer Justifies the Task in the First Place Because the Sun is Burning You and Despite the Fact that You’re Wearing a Hat It Does Not Work And You Should Have Bought the $20.00 Sunscreen at the Entrance But You Were Saving That Money for a Fastpass That You Never Bought Because it Was, Like, $175.00 and It Did Not Even Cover the Ride You’re in Line For in the First Place And You Haven’t Seen Your Group in Over Three Hours Since You Ate Some Coconut Cake En Route to Another Ride That Same Day

By Thomas Page

I am student teaching a senior level class in Washington, DC. They have to write some poems on these prompts. I decided to try all 30 of them. However, I will not say what the prompt was but what it number was.

Prompt #22

The click of the chain

Counts purgatory

For your knees without

Support boring a

Hole in your tennis

Shoes that have flown up

In the air about

An hour ago. Now you’re

Getting low batt’ry

On your phone. You can

Only check facebook,

Instagram, reddit,

Twitter, and tumblr

So many times in

A single day since

The data plan is

Being eaten up

Like a cookie bag

Melting with chocolate

That you’re craving now

Because you consumed

Food hours ago

And you didn’t buy

More on your small 10

Minutes when you weren’t

In line for some steel

Monstrosity cast

In neons that pale

The masked actors who

Will rise at hour 6

With the dusking moon.

The clicks ring again.