of gate crashers,

all time sizzlers

camped out on free ground 

where the 60’s were rebuilt.

O pathetic children of Pennsylvania:

TELL ME WHERE'S ROBERTO CLEMENTE TO LIBERATE US ALL

SINCE IT NOW RAINS YELLOW 

AND SNOWS BLIZZARDS OF CARBON ORANGE OZONE DISASTER?

but hey, Bobby, be polite

you're the visiting team so stay cool, 

make nice…

your generation’s forgotten how to modulate without using loud voices.

these times we reside between opposing poles 

wear poetic boots

donate what we can to beat hub-bub hoboes 

loitering  around bleached out Lysol disinfected Greyhound bus stations

where toothless queens hustle $2 sleep joints.

say, remember West Virginia pre-med mountain tree hikes?

so much for stolen memories,

recalling walking backwards cowboy and Indian style

wrists innocently tied around our backs?

and Sunday meat stores closed for killing repairs? 

no, no one knew then

oh Cuban Missile Crisis generation, 

we were innocent students 

dancing in high school gyms to Motown 

smoking filter cigarettes,

nobody’s fault…?

but wait, bullshit! 

everybody’s to blame,

from the zombie-dead generation.

but here a decade later

frozen dusk wet February Pennsylvania Turnpike

streaked with fugitives like me 

escaping the nicotine cities,

debating more unresolved lost causes,

resolving to continue tip toeing unheard.

so i sanctimoniously light another Marlboro   

gotta move on

desirous of any other road that calls.

yes Pittsburgh,

despite my frozen windshield dripping icy tears,

i escape for StL again…

oh gods,

shelter me!

2/26/73

Allegheny Mts, PA