Travelers Welcome

Travelers Welcome

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Explosions in the Street

by Kevin Ridgeway


the smoke has no time
to clear before another flash
screams into the night
blinding everyone in its
deafening path


it’s Independence Day
here in Southern California
and the smell of barbecued
meat has given way
to the smell of gun powder


things that disturbed me
when I was younger,
things I questioned
as jingoistic, stupid
and repellent


are engulfed in fire
as I light my cigar
and use it to ignite
a small display of
bombs bursting
in the gutter


I realize I have softened

I love blowing things up
I like gnawing on ribs
to form a greasy
mustache over
my lips


here in mini-Baghdad,
where the big pops
grow enormous
as the night
becomes older--


I’d like to see the looks
on my quieter neighbors’
faces as I chew simultaneously
on said rib and smoke said cigar
and light the fuse of
a flattened Christmas
package that turns
into a nightmare of
flashes, twirls and fury


preparing for the
apocalypse is the
American Way


and it should be done
in garish style

1 comment:

  1. A fitting post for the holiday from the always-breathtaking Ridgeway. Great piece.

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