motel checklist (old 66) (revised)

[mnaz]

drone and fade of eighteen wheelers
bonus, within earshot of a train whistle
deduction if train shakes the floorboards
find walls of cracked plaster, singing pipe
sloped floor, peeling paint, splintered chair
fuzzy bare carpet from the carter years
worn patterns like parched stream beds
authentic neon, bonus if letters missing

find literary places, faces nicked
tales of craftsmen from sturdy, grim early days
workmen sawed majestic boards, built huge casings
under twelve layers of paint, walls to converse with
on the high desert, the edge of nothing
offset too much of everything

find old 66, the old road, look for a capsule
before giant earth-movers with large contracts
gouged out mountains and straightened the curves
find old 66, where cars with jet tailfins zoomed past
rockets and flying saucers, giant polygons and amoebae
atomic rings and tiki gods on their way to tomorrowland
past boomerangs and coffee shops with upswept roofs
as if hung from the sky, seemed they might fly

beside a road to galactic desert, oddly exotic
we couldn't build the road now, on our divided highways
three story key-card boxes, ten story oil company signs
old 66 is out in the remains of tumbleweed sun junctions
past the last boneyard, tires and radiators, old V8 blocks
crumbled road to a trail, rolling motel, no neon but stars

or find that rare place at the edge of pavement and dirt
slip between those worlds; it might have a bent old sign
hit by jim's pickup in '73, faded plastic, barely standing
poor jim, bonus if letters missing

[dadio]

Impressive poem; enjoyed the read.

[mnaz]

thanks dadio... "west into the rest of the galaxy..." find the old places, where you can fill up on high octane grease, proper road fuel...