Thunder Road Visitations

on the corner of 45th & telegraph

there is a jack in the box i’d go to

after family rehab meetings

for my older brother. sometimes it’d be us,

sometimes it’d be a group. each equally

filthy in it’s conjecture & each led

to what could barely be called sleep.

group sessions were truly a mixed pot

of people that didn’t lack the occasional smile,

but all lacked this question: could it be so

that this government created society

that questions our own decisions

about why children turn to substances

& not america’s decision to leave us in need of that escape?

in an oakland room:

did you see tunnels as light

crashed into our eyes?

Christian Aldana is a recent graduate of the University of San Francisco’s MFA program. Thunder Road Visitations is part of their thesis, which is called “Inside My Chest Is Something Beautiful.” Other works can be found in The Cincinnati Review, Underblong, and Fairy Piece Magazine. He has work forthcoming from the Ol’ Lickety Split.

When not being a poet you can probably find him somewhere in Golden Gate Park.