Emperor of the North
Posted: April 13th, 2015, 10:28 am
Little Charlie & Lee Marvin,
the emperor of the north pole,
wait at rail marker #54
orange & yellow leaves
blowing behind them
like clapping hands,
an approaching freight train
with its iron gray leader,
lights flashing a distant life
Mad Dog 20/20 hissing
on Lee Marvin’s breath
like spit on a desert rock
“...got a chance
to be good bum,
kid. But can you be
a meat eater?”
Charlie’s game & he’s up
and for one brief moment
he is a movie star, a tinsel
vagabond, carrying 14 years
in a knapsack, waiting to feel
all four seasons in a single wind
“...when you get back,
tell everyone your story,
kid. Make ‘em weep”
A fistful of thunder,
a cloud of sparrows,
a thousand black wings
and Lee Marvin’s distancing voice
stinging in young Charlie’s
rail & burning red cinder ears
“...you had the juice, kid,
but not the heart. Stay off
the rails or next time she’ll
throw you under her
steel wheels, for sure”
the emperor of the north pole,
wait at rail marker #54
orange & yellow leaves
blowing behind them
like clapping hands,
an approaching freight train
with its iron gray leader,
lights flashing a distant life
Mad Dog 20/20 hissing
on Lee Marvin’s breath
like spit on a desert rock
“...got a chance
to be good bum,
kid. But can you be
a meat eater?”
Charlie’s game & he’s up
and for one brief moment
he is a movie star, a tinsel
vagabond, carrying 14 years
in a knapsack, waiting to feel
all four seasons in a single wind
“...when you get back,
tell everyone your story,
kid. Make ‘em weep”
A fistful of thunder,
a cloud of sparrows,
a thousand black wings
and Lee Marvin’s distancing voice
stinging in young Charlie’s
rail & burning red cinder ears
“...you had the juice, kid,
but not the heart. Stay off
the rails or next time she’ll
throw you under her
steel wheels, for sure”
