stepped in it


Gordon Lightfoot and the Frightfully Disjointed
have avenged the heartland (Idaho’s Last Stand)
all contracts written via typewriter ribbon
in the middle of God’s kidney.
re-discover revolution…bottoms up, genepoolers.

now, Lock Haven! now, Scranton!
now, Susquehanna and Bloomsburg!
on, Slippery Rock! on, Lycoming!
on, Juniata and East Stroudsburg!
the student petitions are demanding tuition refunds,
tusked and gnarled enmity in the harbor
roused by red tide:
Beantown Blood vs. Boston Pukes
High Yield Bonds vs. Floating Rate Funds
Burt Reynolds Win,
Burt Reynolds Lose,
Burt Reynolds Draw

Happy Mother’s Day! whole wheat and radiance
(M is for the million wings she gave me…)
but
little boys shoot an occasional mama
and the decades, unkind, unwind
your nightmares and crochet your fright
into Cozy Creature Comfort

the Class of ’57 sure had its dreams
(baby killers, woman haters, dog eaters)
Richie Cunningham on Blueberry Hill
re-creating Mahoroba pill by pill
Brylcreem and bloodstream
one, two, three o’clock, four o’clock rock

Statler Brothers, be good
dangling in sewers by fingertips,
Nashville hath no fury like
‘SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES’
(this remarkable tale first touched me in 1942)

a short walk south of the village,
following the footpath
to the devil’s diner, long spoons,
on the crust of West Virginia,
in all history,
you won’t find a prince who
put his principality in such jeopardy
as has Prince Rumpshaker.

3,000 jumps to
the Wreck of the Orient Express,

for the kingdom, I paid a dollar.

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