“On The Road: 2023” – a poem by Phil Linz

August 18th, 2023

photo by Robert Couse-Baker/via PxHere

On The Road: 2023
…………..(for Joe & Jacques, & for Ryn & Bob)

…………..“Nothing behind me, everything
ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”
…………..—Jack Kerouac

In On the Road, Jack & Neal raced Rocky Mount to Ozone Park,
……..speeding dark quiet American roads
Today, 2023. I drive the new superhighways, continuous sterile green
……..at median & shoulders,
Passing trucks occasionally, only to be passed, the same trucks,
……..miles down the road;
Choosing the highways so that I can make time, Wilmington to Savannah
……..to Cape Coral & back again;
……..the summer heat oppressive; the air conditioning, necessary.

Closer to NYC, the radio rose up within earshot of the ’49 Hudson,
……..Bird & Dizzy & Symphony Sid,
Jumpin’ through eastern seaboard night, connecting the new,
……..the hip, the beat, to fresh ears
When they reached NY they found the huge whipped creams
……..at Hector’s, which always meant NYC to them
Today it’s millions of Mickey D’s, Burger Kings & Hardees,
……..& in the south there’s the Waffle House,
……..familiar chains of carbon-copy fast foods, the comfortable, the ……..expected.

We become so spoiled, so great the range of Sirius music online,
……..a single button gives Christian McBride to
James Taylor, Savoy Junction to 50’s, 60’s, 70’s pop;
……..Sinatra. Beethoven. Even sports & comedy.
Jack & Neal showed a path, sex, drugs, jazz, freedom,
……..the American highways, the ever-speeding GOING,
A path for me, goodbye to Florida friends & back onto
……..the sweltering highways, the long trip home, alone, my car;
……..the hottest days ever, three days on the road; 2023.

___

Phil Linz was born in Brooklyn, NY, and has lived in Wilmington, DE since 2011. He’s been writing poetry since 1971, and is the founder and publisher of Fierce Grace Press, specializing in chapbooks & believing in the concept of “Publishing Under the Radar.” Work from his previous eight chapbooks have been published as The Chapbooks: Collected Poems (2019), available online. He has twice been selected as a Delaware Division of the Arts Fellow, and is a frequent reader at Wilmington’s Second Saturday Poets & Brooklyn’s Brownstone Poets. He is a member of the American Academy of Poets, the Mad Poets Society, and the Beat Museum.

Listen to the 2020 recording of bassist Christian McBride performing “Road Song,” with Joey DeFrancesco (organ); Mark Whitfield (guitar); Quincy Phillips (drums); Frank Greene, Freddie Hendrix, Brandon Lee, Nabate Isles (trumpets); Michael Dease, Steve Davis, James Burton (trombones); Douglas Purviance (bass trombone); Steve Wilson (soprano sax); Todd Bashore (alto sax); Ron Blake, Dan Pratt (tenor sax); Carl Maraghi (baritone sax). Mack Avenue Records