Back in the Day,
the 60’s counter-culture
when we ripped the heads off
every idol of our parents
and love was all you need,
we hitchhiked all over America,
just stuck out a thumb.
We didn’t need cars,
couldn’t afford them.
America was our sedan.
We all had thumbs and smiles.
The country was ours.
We had no fear.
Life was a safe road.
Until, one day, Renee
stuck out her innocent thumb
to get a ride
as she did every day
to go to class.
That rainy afternoon,
she ran into our communal house,
burst through the open door,
panting, shaking, standing in the corner
tears of fear streaming down her cheeks.
“He took a wrong turn,
went into the woods;
I cried and begged.
He pulled a knife:”
‘Do only one thing,’ he said.
“I did and gagged and did and did.”
The river of roads crossing America
sank to murky swamps,
some of the drivers snakes.
The end of America as we saw it
through the tinted glasses of the Revolution
that never happened.
We fled to the suburbs,
built our own two-car garages.
Published in The Write Launch