New Poem: VARIATION ON MELLENCAMP’S SMALL TOWN

 grain elevator, giant oil derrick, red/brown brick streets

 train station which became Boy Scouts facility

 elementary school that felt ultramodern in the 1960s

 large and small churches teaching different versions of Jesus’s teachings 

 car races which some classmates never survived

 drive-in eateries and motels which tried to survive the freeway bypass

 >

 newspaper ad said help save our town, buy at home

 but the next city was just a half-hour away by car

 some migrated there, others to other small Texas towns

 only a few dared move out of state

 to see if neutrality healed wounds and strengthened bonds

 

 

New poem: CLASSIC TEXAS

I took a good look around my hometown
of vacant lots and empty buildings
but drove too slow and a policeman followed me
in a police SUV up to a stop sign
where the driver to the right
ran through another stop sign
>
and the policeman didn't chase that driver
but turned right after we turned left
>
we then drove to the family home
after passing by junior high
turned into eight-year school
because someone persuaded the town
to close the elementary school
and build what looked like converted trailers
on the junior high property
>
the billboards on the highway
paint my hometown
as a cozy place
where tourists can exit
and spend an hour or two
>
once upon a time,
until around 1969,
it qualified as that place
>
now take a good look around
then see the policeman behind you
and prepare to maybe get a ticket
so the town can have money
to keep breathing