Thursday, April 17, 2014

An Elegy for Jack Kerouac (Poem a Day Challenge, Day 16)

Aww, Jack, we stood,
you and me,
in my dreams, on the road,
whoopin’ it up in the heavens on
earth
where our dreams—
tiny pebbles—
were dropped and rippled along
the waves,
cast out to sea,
real dreams, real waters,
real like the winds on Desolation Peak
real like the flames in your head
that would speak
to you,
and through you,
to me.

Aww, Jack, we were free,
you and me,
in my dreams, on the road,
angelic
beatific
prolific
on life’s journey where we danced
high
above the clouds
of gusting dust and
smoke
swirling behind the tail-
pipe
as we zipped along this sacred soil,
our souls splashed and re-
baptized,
bare and blessed,
caressed,
fired up with every step
when we’d meet and greet
the beings of human-
ity.

Aww, Jack, what a pity,
you and me
were only in my dreams,
on the road,
picking lotus flowers
lush along the path of
enlightenment,
left to suffer
with nirvana never found.
To be true,
on this road,
in this God-forsaken world,
you were holy sent
but never in your
element.

Aww, Jack, I pray that you,
not me,
that you
(and Sal, maybe)
through death
found peace
found paradise,
that your soul didn't have to pay a price
and could finally burn,

“burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow
roman candles exploding like spiders
across the stars
and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop
and everybody goes
‘Awww!’"

No comments:

Post a Comment