PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I’m not an Okie from Muskogee

and I’m not quite a hippie

or radical left wing bomber

and I ain’t got any desire

to be a Unabomber

or serial killer preying

on innocent, helpless people

I don’t smoke marijuana

in Muskogee

cause I don’t got any reason

to be in Muskogee

I took a few trips

on LSD

without landing on Mars

or in Muskogee

but I am an American

real red blood and all

and I don’t wear

leather boots or Roman sandals

don’t wear beads

and have no use

for the college dean

I’m just a poor boy from Croydon

and I’m just trying

to make it thru another day

at a dead end job

and I’m watching other people

smoke up the American dream

in their own twisted pipe dream

My own ideal

of living the American Dream

has gone awry

and I find myself

frustrated over

a ’74 Maverick

that won’t start

and a job that won’t quit

and tearful realization

that I’m getting old;

not the youthful Romantic

who believes in the myth anymore;

can’t be sold on the line

and it depresses me

and it distresses me

that I’m not so naïve

as to still believe in dreams

and I’m bitter

at the prospect of wasted vision

and long forgotten hope

but it could be my own fault

or it could be Fidel’s fault

or any of those loonies

running the Middle East shit show

but I still don’t wanna

bomb the shit out of anyone

just wanna make sure

no one bombs the shit out of me;

and the divisions

in this country are drawn

and I am on one side

by circumstances

but unwilling to lie

about what I am

and I love

to play football

when I’m high as a kite

and feeling no pain

I wonder what an Okie

has to say about that

but I don’t have time

to worry too much

I, at least, respect

his or her right to that opinion

I must wonder why

they can’t accept mine

1-28-98