Polaroid 600, Biloxi, Miss., 2008.
I am so sick of Katrina, sick of
room service pizza slathered
in gloopy white motts.
I am sick of drinking my per diem
in this hotel room, sick of
missing you every night.
gee my life’s a funny thing
After work I take off my
tie and my wingtips, and
I pull on my old cotton,
Jank the studded belt through
the frayed straps of
decade-old Dickies.
Stride through the casino
to the parking deck, slots
clanging and jangling
carpet screaming rainbows,
squinting through the smoke
and the clamor.
The Saturn is mostly
plastic and it rattles and
the a-c doesn’t work
i heard the news today o boy
but there’s a satellite radio,
and a 70’s station and
David Bowie and Bad Company
all night
And those old songs
bring me closer to you,
closer to Jackson
ALL RIGHT
even while I’m stuck in this
damned casino, stuck in
a box all day long,
we are still young &
heaven is forever &
heaven is whenever &
& & &
& it is still two years from
when I will be sitting
crosslegged in my living room
hardwood biting into my
ankles, fingers punching
an ancient Smith-Corona
guilty for remembering
being sick of Katrina,
and room service pizza,
guilty of wearing gap-toothed belts &
obsessing over how much I
need a Goddamned DeLorean.
Did you know that Richard Nixon was elected president the same year that John Lennon married Yoko Ono?
This is by far the best creative work to use the phrase “heaven is whenever” released this year so far. In all seriousness, though, I dig it!
[...] Polaroid 600, Biloxi, Miss. (2008), battered Smith-Corona with shifty ribbon (2010). Taken the day after this night. [...]
I like this poet version of you. Had not realized you cared so much about the stuff. Way to go. And this is no comment on quality, I realize, but as a pre-boomer, I really enjoy the allusions to Dylan and The Beatles.