Saturday, April 5, 2008

Small Town Poem

Journey
Population: 212

There was an end to roads once

Till one day, in some frontier town

They came together, and I swear I lived in that town

A place whose stoplight was a monument

And landmark, Beacon-Lighthouse a lure for the local marauders

To make steadings at our Hotel

Next to our dinner, where a waitress would count the cars

And her boy lay-out starry in a booth would identify them by their roar

Mythic beasts each, there the long growl and diesel stink

Of a Ford, uncle hank an uncle by township blood

Uncle hank that drank with Jesse, the town drunk,

At the other bar the otherside of town, ‘cross the post office

A place whose shade was gentle, a loft of trees, whose streets

Sung a soft breeze and clatter of wind chimes, a village of American flags

Who never could tell the difference between jargon and rhyme

Wayward towns, sure, to get there you go round the bend the other side of here

Take a left on Highway 22 and head due south till you run into her or pass her

Whatever suits your eyes, there where the roads met up, and decided to be long forever.

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