The ex-skateboarder
is a current cook,
thinks about cooking
a lot, cooks all the time,
in fact cooked his way
all the way
from Rhode Island
to Virginia
by way of Michigan.
Sometimes
he stops thinking
about the lead line
for two minutes
and wishes for a night listening
to New Model Army
after eating something good
someone else had prepared
in the fifty-first state
of the union,
the one that only exists
as the hypothetical next stop
on his road.
This,
he thinks,
is a good grind,
today is a good day,
or at least
it’s as good as it gets.
I can live with that
even if now I have to walk
where I used to glide
until I get there…
and eats what he cooks
because he knows where he’s been,
anyway.
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Dark Matter 
April 23rd, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I like any poem with an inside reference to NMA. Especially the song that gt them (temporarily, anyway) banned from the USA.
Also it was a good poem, which always helps. I like the image of the travel route, which I think tweeks the brain’s “hey, that wasn’t the most direct route” response. Well done.
i like the “Line cook” dreams in the 2nd stanza, but my favorite part of the poem has to be:
“and eats what he cooks
because he knows where he’s been,
anyway.”
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I kinda wrote this on a dare last night — Steve jokingly asked if I could write a poem on demand about him…
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Ryk-
there’s double NMA refernces- Today Is A Good Day is the title track on their newest album, which, I think is their (I’m definitely biased) best album since “No Rest For The Wicked”.
April 23rd, 2010 at 8:18 pm
also, your one of the poets I miss from my time in Pvd.
April 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Steve’s lucky to be Steve, or so you write. Loved the ending. Pearl