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after Ida Lupino
“I know what you’re thinkin,
so forget about it,
you’re gonna die is all.
It’s just a question of when.”
Two buddies gone fishing.
Picked up the hitchhiker
by the side of the road,
come out of hiding.
Said he’d run out of gas,
thanked us
for showing up,
slid into the back seat
and pulled out a pistol.
“Keep your hands on the steering wheel.
Ten to midnight
where I can see 'em.”
The hitchhiker had one good eye
and one bum eye,
could never tell
where he was looking
or if he slept.
Turn here.
Turn there.
Pull over and get out.
We followed his instructions,
never sure when
the gun would go off.
Camped in the sagebrush.
Headed south to Baja
to get the ferry at Santa Rosalia.
One night the hitchhiker
took the watch my wife gave me.
Said he never got
a timepiece from anyone.
Owes no one.
We’ll be there soon.
Where is there? I asked.
You’ll know when we get there.
I thought about my little one
back home,
“Ve con Dios, pequeña.”
3 comments:
Your poem exudes film noir -- it feels like it's written in black and white! You capture the feeling and the tension. Wouldn't it be great to write a whole book of poems that are based on movies? I was once moved to write out the plot summary of The Treasure of Sierra Madre, which I think is one of the greats.
What a great idea for a volume of poetry. This one was actually inspired by the last line which is a direct quote. I’d never heard the word ‘pequena’ before and had to look it up. But something about it resonated. So I posted the poem and two days later I went to my barber. He’s Italian. Been going to him for decades. He’s cutting my hair and we’re shooting the breeze. Talking about sports and politics. The usual. Then suddenly he stops, looks up, and hollers ‘Hey pequeno!’ I say, what did you just say? He says, I said hey pequeno! Why did you say that? I ask. He says because that’s what we call that guy who just walked by. Pequeno. He’s from Equador. I tell him I never heard that word in my life before and now I’ve heard it twice in a week.
Go with God, little one.
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