new jersey is a 24 hour toll stop
 on I-95 through rahway
 a weigh station lit in neon
 not slick enough for park avenue
 but too smart for staten island
 it's got wires tied across its forehead
 linking cell sites to pennsylvania
 it's got thighs the size of tires
 unshaven with cellulite pockets
 held firm by pins of copper

 new jersey is country girl
 overflowing her britches
 her breasts firm under a teeshirt
 she hasn't read albert camus
 or even t.s. eliot
 but chants the bhagavad-gita
 while driving down route 22.

 new jersey is a slow leaking tire
 on the shoulder of I-78
 passing gas through a nylon pipe
 dripping oil on your dash 
 its poets are born in freehold
 hold readings in strip malls

 new jersey is a mad dash
 up and down route 1
 from trenton to edison 
 road rage is the language
 its poet laureates write