Grandpa

 

Morning.  Early.  Classical music

on the radio, coffee brewing.

My computer is in the shop.

The air-conditioner is running.

I woke up bathed in sweat.

Rowan says, “Grandpa’s pillow

smells funny.”  It’s just Grandpa, Rowan.

It don’t make me a bad person.  One day

in the life.  Life and death in the fast lane

and the breakdown lane.  Then it’s over.

It isn’t over yet.  Beethoven’s late quartets.

De Daumier-Smith’s blue period.

A dog-eared copy of Catcher in the Rye.

“The Class of ’57 Had Its Dreams.”

The Statler Brothers.  “No Goodwill Stores

in Waikiki.”  Blaze Foley.  I was stationed

in Waco, Texas, in 1957.  Billy Joe Shaver.

In a band Charlie Rich had been in.

In a band with Bobby Bradford.

Generation of Strainers is about

the Class of ’57.  Some of us wanted to

make a difference.  Some wanted to knock

your dick in the dirt.  Get over on you.

Philip Wylie was against shopping.

Momism.  He said all American advertising

was designed to ask the question, “Madame,

are you a good lay?”  Was I a good lay?

I don’t remember.  I remember reading

Generation of Vipers at the USO.

I was a bookworm.  I was a reader.

Now I am a Grandpa and it doesn’t matter.

Now I am an underground writer.

 


 

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