New Poem: HEAR THE POP (1970) VERSION TWO

HEAR THE POP (1970) VERSION TWO

this is a story of someone I knew

who wanted to make easy money

by delivering a box of marijuana

but the police saw him,

told him to stop,

fired a pistol shot near where he stood

> 

there was the arrest, the bailout, the trial date

could hear him crying very loud one night

because there was a lot of pressure on him

to cut his hair short to impress the judge

because long hair meant "hippie"

and "hippie" was defined as a threat

to prevailing notions of social order

> 

apparently he was viewed favorably

by the judge in the county seat courthouse

and the sentence was probation

> 

here’s the kicker:

I first found out about my brother’s dilemma

from a fifth-grade classmate

because my parents wanted to erect a shield

between 10-year-old me

and 19-year-old him

> 

this incident ensured I’d have a difficult time

growing to adulthood

because I was protected

as if I had a security detail

to keep me from becoming my brother

and I didn’t become my brother

spending on/off periods of his life
preferring to get and stay high to cope—

instead, I learned to be shy and suspicious

giving in to keep the peace

spending quiet time imagining

an extroverted life

with an abundance of friends

something I couldn’t have

because my parents were afraid that,

left to my own devices,

I’d make the wrong decisions

and wind up on a country road

with a small town police officer

yelling put down that box of dope

and threatening to shoot

if I didn't raise my hands 

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: Hallucinating

start out in one period of life
switch rapidly to another one
the dead live again
the living become shadows
>
and people you’ve never met
become unreliable companions
>
brief interruptions:
bathe
eat
new pair of pajamas
>
then return
to a random state of mind