When you enter a strange
City, it becomes familiar
A little—that doorway
Is a place to stand out of
The rain, that maple is like
Another maple several
States away, that man
At the bus stop looks
Just like your father,
Who once entered a strange
City, a few years
Before you were born,
And found the place that you
Would some day leave.
The Same River
Jeff Mock
Jeff Mock is the author of Ruthless (Three Candles Press, 2010). His poems appear in American Poetry Review, the Atlantic Monthly, the Georgia Review, the Iowa Review, New England Review, the North American Review, Shenandoah, the Southern Review, and elsewhere. He teaches in the MFA program at Southern Connecticut State University.