So this is it, my last day in Boston.

Last night I attended one last poetry slam at the Lizard Lounge, for which I stayed in town for an extra weekend. I signed up to compete in the slam. I was out of my league. I was way out of my league. After the first round, I was ommited from the competition. This wasn’t exactly the kind of grand finale I had psyched myself up for, but on the other hand I had stayed for that slam because it was host to so much good poetry. So much of it better than mine, at that.

I met a woman who lives in Israel. She told me horror stories about the bus-bombs and the guards in every school, every bank, every public building of any sort. She said that whenever an Isralei sees three soldiers, one of them carrying a medical bag, that the announcement of another death comes with them. This woman’s poetry was not nearly so interesting, and I told her so as kindly as I could manage.

The train leaves promptly (I hope) at 9:45 tonight, and arrives in baltimore, where my parents will not yet have arrived to greet me, at an intolerable six in the morning. I’ll spend a week or so in hiding, back home in West Virginia, so, if you’re looking for me, you won’t find me. You certainly won’t find me online, since my family has an old 14.4 modem. The frustration of waiting for that thing simply isn’t worth it. I won’t be online.

What’s next? Good question! My entire life, up to this point, by which I mean this very day, has been planned in some vague way, at least. Now… everything is uncertain, beginning with whether or not my roomate will manage to remember he promised to drive me to the train station, whether it will happen on time, and so on…

When I surface again, I hope it will be with at least two new short stories in tow, and I also hope it will be with the news that I am attending my final semester of college (god/$ willing).

So that’s it, the end of this very exciting and hard-earned chapter of my life. Thanks for reading.