Adam Burrows

Anywhere But Here

lately all the customers have the lottery bug

since that lady got lucky on a scratch-off last month

i ring ‘em up and wish ‘em well 

and go back to mopping the aisles

as i work, i imagine how it’d feel to win 

i wouldn’t make a scene when i told Marge that i quit

this place is punishment enough

there’d be no need to get her riled

but i’d say goodbye to my mother and that’s it

book a flight to somewhere i’ve never been 

anywhere but here

i’m sobered by the buzzer, fill her up on eight

a quick-pick ticket and a can of skoal straight

collecting someone’s money 

for someone else i’ll never know

the kid who graduated first in my class 

works at an autozone near the overpass

he comes into the station sometimes 

for a paper and smokes

it seems like some folks have the tools and never use ‘em 

while others have the dreams and they just lose ‘em 

when they don’t get anywhere but here

the radio says the chinese new year’s coming on

something snaps inside of me, i’ve wasted time for too long

no one hitchhikes anymore, i’m just walking with my thumb in the air

anywhere, anywhere, anywhere but here