Friday, January 25, 2013

Linwood Avenue


It was yellow and had a black banana seat and
 Said “Dragster” on the chain guard and it took me places

The quarry was Linwood Avenue, 21 blocks due west, the edge of town
And atop my Dragster I could get there in about 9 minutes if the cars were
  Stopped on Richmond Street
The back side of Linwood Avenue was a bean field and sometimes you’d see a garter snake if you didn’t blink
  But we weren’t looking for garter snakes
 We sought the victims of Biggie Rat

In the summer of 1973 questions arose and jowly old Sam Ervin was interrupting The Secret Storm and Search for Tomorrow, irritating the ladies on Brewster Street and Randall Avenue with his queries

There was a cancer growing but nine year old boys on the hunt for Biggie Rat aren’t troubled by such things

We knew that Biggie Rat hung out on Leminwah Street, fifteen blocks the other way,
 Past the paper mill and the secret trail through the ravines to Peabody Park
  On the way to the cemetery, near where my buddy Pat Kiss lived
  But we weren’t going there. No sir. Nor would we go to Koehnke’s Woods, where the hoboes were and the Adler Brau cans rusting in piles along the Soo Line spur
 

It’s no damn good to be a nine-year old boy named Pat Kiss, by the way, especially in the summer of 1973
  He could kick the crap out of every kid in the neighborhood, mostly because he had to, except for Kelly Furlow, who had similar issues

Lou Reed could handle androgyny in 1973, but nine-year old Wisconsin boys weren’t Warhol superstars and didn’t have a tenor sax, so you had to be tough, especially if Biggie Rat was coming

  Thirty nine years on, we never once gave it away

7 comments:

Mr. D said...

Thank you -- I have been trying to get back into writing poetry for the last few months. I will have more.

Gino said...

is this where poetry goes to thrive?

Brad said...

I have been trying to get back into writing poetry for the last few months. I will have more.

I know I've said it before, but.......RINO.

Mr. D said...

is this where poetry goes to thrive?

More like poetry detox, I think.

RINO

LOL. And what difference does it make? ;)

Gerry said...

Mr. D. -- I KNOW Kelly Furlow!

Mr. D said...

Gerry,

That's funny -- I probably haven't seen him since the summer of '73. He was a good dude when he was 9; probably still is!

Gerry said...

Mr. D. -- he's the best dude. Great friend, great person.