Arrival

CLARITY: EMERGENT PHENOMENON | Moment Three Hundred Thirteen

My parents
had a hotel reservation
on 78th Street.

We turned left
from the Dan Ryan offramp
through an urban neighborhood.
I heard mom gravely mention
metal bars bolted to windows.
My stepdad
snidely noted the people filling sidewalks
lined with trash.

Still leaning forward
from the backseat
I took in a worldview I had never heard.
Though I saw a car with no tires
resting on cinder blocks
in a gas station parking lot
I heard my parents
imagine it done hurriedly.

Unsure where we were
my stepdad concluded
he was given bad directions.
We retraced our path north to 33rd
to make our scheduled arrival.
We were greeted
with “ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY”
painted across the side of a bridge
giant red brick academic buildings
rose up on either side of us.

We crossed State Street
under an elevated train bridge
then left into a narrow fire lane
lined by a small brick building
and the expansive residence hall complex.