I used to read a writers’ magazine.
I gave it up for teaching nothing right.
But I recall advice – where you can glean
ideas for plots and people: how you might
pay heed to all the chatter in the car
when you are toting children after school.
The tweens reveal what circumstances are,
that drive them while you drive them.

No car pool
provides the privacy, the atmosphere
kids need to speak to other kids aloud.
To eavesdrop on their honesty, come here:
aboard this bus or train. Just join the crowd
on transit, or stroll close behind some youth.
That’s when the kids will fill your ears with truth.