Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ITINERANT POET'S ROAD SONG, by KAREN SWENSON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ITINERANT POET'S ROAD SONG, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Comin' out of lolo pass
Last Line: All you got is the changes in time... The changes in time.
Subject(s): Music & Musicians; Poetry & Poets; Travel; Journeys; Trips


Comin' out of Lolo Pass
the cat began to heave;
the bitch barfed on my brand-new tapes
while I tried not to breathe.

Buy my beer at the pharmacist's
my wine at the grocery store
a trackin' booze is better than
the bars and cowboy bores.

Willie sing me t' the next motel
Loretta rhyme me to sleep
'cause Bach gave out at Chicago
I'm drivin' Paul Harvey's beat.

Sixty-five below Livingston
when black ice spun me out:
the stars were caught in an eggbeater;
my guts felt like sauerkraut.

Carton of books just wedged in front
the cat's pan behind my seat;
if my clothes fall in I'm gonna have t' drink gin
just to equalize the reek.

There's a restaurant in Billings
where everything's served flambe.
The lights are low; the food is hot
but they don't know Beaujolais.

Willie sing me t' the next motel
Loretta rhyme me to sleep
'cause Bach gave out at Chicago
I'm drivin' Paul Harvey's beat.

Old Wall Drug's behind me
Little America's the next stunt
a semi's trailin' my Honda's ass
an' a snowplow's drivin' up front.

One lane open on 1-25
the black pecker-birds at Midwest
are noddin' for oil in the snow while I
get fourteen cents at the best.

Read my work in Helena
an' read my poems in Crow;
their words are stiffenin' like laundry
on a line at fifty below.

Willie sing me t' the next motel
Loretta rhyme me to sleep
'cause Bach gave out at Chicago
I'm drivin' Paul Harvey's beat.

Had a job and man in New York
but now I'm Denver bound
with a carsickcat, a Hondahatchback
an' Loretta-Paul-Willie's sound.

Repeat anything you'd like to hear
fill in the lines and rhymes
'cause drivin' alone so far from home
all you got is the changes in time... the changes in time.





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