Sitting in traffic,
waiting for the light
heat and humidity
building in the van,
one window open to
moist air after flooding.
Only there for a
moment, in shadows
under the highway,
waiting for the light to change
seeing a specter,
and apparition.
A character, a
caricature,
a man out of time on
the sidewalk,
below the underpass,
half in shadow
A Beat, a throwback,
caught in time,
not a Ginsberg, no
he wouldn’t Howl, but
a modern day Kerouac,
or one who aspired to be.
Drawn to him, his gait,
a slouched walk, tousled hair
his clothes, how he
carried himself
bath sandals worn outside
too long.
Oversized thrift
store blazer, elbows patched
over a frock prom
shirt, frilled, cranberry edging.
Hunched shoulders,
time spent in dimly lit libraries,
before glowing
computer screens, shaded lamps.
A sense of the latte
on his breath
languid scent of
clove cigarettes in the wool of his coat
too warm for the day
around him, sweltering.
A mop of coarse
black hair
that hadn’t seen a
brush in days
sunken eyes, and a
certainty, a deep knowing.
Oh, he’d written
lines far darker than these
words that would
confuse and provoke,
unfairness of the
mundane, inertia,
the bleakness of his
bourgeois existence;
unaware of his
place, his role in the intelligentsia.
A yawn at the coffee
house, or maybe a demigod,
reading urgent,
sharp lines he might have written
(or so it certainly
seemed, looking at him).
Hard to say from across
the street, fleetingly
driving by his path,
for these few brief moments
before my light
turns green and I go down the road
away from the
college-aged, but no-longer-in-college beat
on that humid Concord
street.
====
edited April 16, 2015
A Beat in Concord – v7
(editing version 4)
Edited October 19, 2013
“A Beat in Concord – v6”
Edited July 2, 2013
“A Beat in Concord – v5”
based on original version
further edits June 30, 2012
A Beat in Concord – v4
(turning the poem to the
present tense)
further edits June 30, 2012
A Beat in Concord – v3
further edited June 6, 2012
(with edited by Elisha and Marshall Burns)
A Beat in Concord – v2 - 2
edited June 6, 2012
A Beat in Concord – v2
written May 18, 2006 5:59pm
A Beat in Concord
written about someone I saw
under the Exit 14 underpass, Concord, NH
All
of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights
reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage.
See all 37,110+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
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