Poem: Without A Destination
by Jess Stork Glicoes

A poem stepped onto a bus.
It didn’t know its destination, 
as it left behind sturdy shelves 
In One More Page Books. 
It sailed towards Fairfax Dr.— 

This poem forgot a map. 

But 
it craved
the
rumble 
of the engine, 
the beep of Smart Cards
the clink of coins, 
feeding into the metal belly of the bus. 
The door clicked open and shut, 
And giddiness bubbled up the poem’s spine, 
As words sailed past, 
It left its book behind, 
and tires pulled it from the confines of two covers. 
The bus cruised 
past Arlington Arts, 
Lubber Run Amphitheater, 
Iota, 
Central Library, 
And a smile curled on the poem’s lips. 

Jess Stork Glicoes works in the DC Public Library as a children’s librarian; she writes and lives in Arlington. In 2019, she placed second in the Arlington Public Library Short Story Contest. In 2011, she was a winner in the Moving Words competition, and her poem rode on buses in Northern Virginia, relishing in the commute. Her work was also included in Abundant Grace, an anthology published by Arlington-based Paycock Press. 

Written in Arlington / Spoken in Arlington is a print and digital collection of the poets and poems of Arlington, VA, edited by Katherine E. Young and published by Paycock Press (forthcoming, fall 2020). It is supported in part by Arlington County through the Arlington Cultural Affairs division of Arlington Economic Development and the Arlington Commission for the Arts. For more information, visit Arlington Arts.

Image: After the Rain mixed media/collage on canvas by Anya Getter (fragment)