Driving Rains and a Radio
Rain on I-80 near Lincoln, Nebraska, heading east to the docks
of New York, torrential dawn rain flooding the asphalt
rivulets deepening, whirling, converging to hub cap high
bumper high rivers, now fender high, surging, and Billy Graham
preaching on the radio, high, windshield high, hood’s awash
as he’s quoting God’s words to Noah when the car leaves the pavement
swept east by the flowing flood waters to the raging Missouri
to bob around ox-bows with full grain barges, “Shenadoah”
now loud on the FM, shooting whitewater down to St. Louis
to the broad Mississippi - calmer, but swollen, a great liquid plain
flowing south past northbound riverboats, “Old Man River”
on the Memphis airwaves down though the delta to the Gulf, and on
out to sea, New Orleans broadcasting an old grainy voice on a 78 rpm
somberly rendering “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” to lull me to sleep
as night comes full of tankers from Galveston ...
awaken
in the rain
‘bout a mile from Key West
catch the swift Gulf Stream north, catch hornpipes and shanties
on the airwaves from Charleston, while brisk Southerlies and following seas
rock the car past galleons, slave ships, man-o-wars, the battle-scarred Merrimack
glimpsed in the rearview, a U-boat crew up for air as seas roughen into
the North Atlantic, “SOS, Mayday, Mayday!” on the C.B. now, Titanic going down
way out east as I ride the wake of a tramp packed with Irish into New York Harbor
past the ferry, many freighters and Lady Liberty, beaching half a day early in Queens
with the “Odyssey” ringing in original Greek from the speaker as the rains let up
-
Author:
Will Hiltz (
Offline) - Published: March 15th, 2017 00:40
- Comment from author about the poem: I ran across an old box of memorabilia the other night, in which were some of my early poems like this one. I\\\'ll post the better ones here over the next few days. Enjoy.
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 170
Offline)
Comments2
Very good write. I belong to a poetry group which meets once a month and this very much reminds my of the style that one of the poets in the group writes.
Thanks, Goldfinch60. Interesting about the group member with a similar style - I've always been attracted to this style for poems that it fits well, but I don't know what it's called or who immortalized it - Ginsberg, whose poetry I truly admire and still love to read aloud in certain moods (especially Howl, and Transcription of Organ Music), certainly comes closest. It's sort of a cadenced, obsessional rant style that fits well when the material warrants. Glad you liked it.
this one sweep me away very nice work!
Thanks, willyweed. Sometimes getting swept away is exactly what's needed!
yes swept away, sorry about that Will!
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