New Poem: AN INADEQUATE ANSWER

 two fifteen year-olds on their only date

 were waiting for a theater box office to open 

 and window shopped at the Woolworths next door

 >

 the then-popular family TV series THE WALTONS

 became a topic of conversation 

 she said “Don’t tell me you like THE WALTONS”

 he, not listening to what she was really saying,

 responded with light talk about how the show had

 mountains and clean air, basically escapist stuff

 >

 decades later, he realized she was struggling 

 with unhappiness and other people’s expectations 

 and he wished he had said something different,

 something which could have formed a lasting friendship 

New Poem: PARKING LOT HEROES

 out in front of the Dairy Queen 

 at the intersection of Highways 25 and 287

 youthful male giants once stood as colossi

 astride the welcoming landscape of small town 70s

 naked streaking all the way to White’s Auto

 fights where karate was defeated by groin kick

 Kiss and Led Zeppelin (sometimes Herbie Hancock)

 provided background music from 8-track car stereos 

 >

 their world couldn’t hold back change

 some graduated, others did not

 one or two left town ahead of baby births 

 the Dairy Queen died so Texas One Stop could live

 White’s Auto is now a Dollar General

 the colossi are now grandparents 

 the youth of today drive their giant trucks

 get their provisions from One Stop

 and drive away fast with trucker hat country 

 as CD and FM stereo background music of choice 

 blasts away their anxieties over nothing being certain anymore 

Older Poem: HEAR THE POP (1970)

HEAR THE POP

Hear the pop
Then the cop
Yells “Stop”

That’s the end
Of the payday
As the box

Of dope sits
On the ground
As your hands

Raise up high
Above your head
Then behind back

As handcuffs click
Then shoved into
Cruiser back seat

Cop smiles as
Siren turned on
And you think

Will I have
To cut hair
For Judge’s sake

Will my lawyer
Say I’m a
Good Boy

From a Good
Family who never
Got into this

Kind of trouble
And I’m in
My second year

Of college
Hoping not to
Be drafted

All of this
Because I listened
To a friend

Of a friend

Have mercy Judge

New Poem: HELLO TIMES PAST

walk happy through shopping mall

new vinyl-and-nylon marching band letter jacket

maybe she’ll notice, offer a compliment

oh no, she’s not at department store job

it’s too early to go home

no movies starting soon

walk to Disc Records

flip past albums and 8-track tapes

three male classmates come up and say

they’re tired of me because

my grades are too good

and their parents hold me up

as some kind of role model

one of them slaps me

in the back of the head

(no one else in the store notices)

before telling me I need to fail

at least one test

to take the heat off of them

then he calls me “damn queer”

before they strut away

it’s only junior year

PSATs are coming soon

if scores are good,

maybe I can think of going to college

that’s at least a hundred miles away

from this hell

that rarely stops being fresh