python asphalt stretched plains
nighttime dark:
reflectionless,
onwardless,
visionless
laid out drunken brawler:
memory of static AM jazz radio Rochester,
memory of long dead father,
memory of escaping AmeriKa
to find AmeriCa
last chance to breathe free
heading west
dig the vastness
memory of 3:00 am long Denver rigs zooming past,
memory of distant mountains
dawn emerging from my consciousness,
memory of dreams now static from Paterson teenage bed,
of blueberries,
of Motown 45s,
sunflowers scattered
nighttime dark and four windows down,
Ford wagon tearing ass 85 mph
this miserable flat wind cursing
while defining Kansas,
the Kansas that was:
memory of a Kansas midnight,
memory of a runaway car,
memory of a runaway son.
1978
Midwest