Long Pickups Poems

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Marty's Diner is a cozy rendezvous for folks of this wee country town.
People come from miles about to enjoy the fixin's fer which it's renown!
It ain't a fancy place - I s'pose there's maybe a...

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There's a quaint little cross roads town that nestles in the shadow,
Of majestic Pikes Peak called Punkin Center in eastern Colorado.
The prime business in town is the Punkin Center Tack and Feed Store,
Where farmers and...

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One of the first things I did after my company went out of business was to grow a full beard. Over a 25 year period, I worked in both the office and on the road...

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(A remembrance of driving to the auction in Odessa, Missouri.)

You’re bumpin’ down the highway in that ol’ pickup truck,
Just a kid slowly tunin’ in a radio that plays—
Headin’ for the stock auction with your dad...

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By Laura Dee Battle
June 12, 2013

I've realized
These smile lines
Are hypnotized
Through tired eyes

Make it whole
The heart you stole
No light is shone
I feel alone

Promises made
False serenades
Refusing to see
The space between

Cannot believe
How you and me
Endure the solstice
Of lonely...

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You’re torn between two identities
never knowing which way you should go
You dream of being a big city
but you're afraid to let yourself grow

There’s some folks who want to be country
other folks want a fancier life
Live...

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Hare Krishna's
In their Pickups
Depressed Comics
Down on their Luck
Teenage Girls
Screaming Meme's
Commie Pinko's
Leftward Leaning
Vincent Price
Flo and Eddie
Rodger Rabbit
Priscilla Presley
Nuns in Habits
Dwarf's in Ponchos
Deadbeat Dads
Munching Nachos
Right-Wing Nut Jobs
Trading Slogans
A few Hero's
Including Hogan

Are just a few of the sights...

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Do you feel the great turning, the maelstrom coming around, spitting sparks of searing birds that circle each other screaming in a language like pain? Blisters burning feathers, beaks and eyes till they ignite like...

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it starts underneath a small table
near the entrance to a motel lobby
and grows with great speed and sprite
quieting the house-guest at the counter
as it flows - muted down the hallway

glass doors opened with dampened yawn
and...

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The Gathering

Brought together.
Late summer along the North Platte
At the wandering river bed flanked by cottonwoods.
They have been drawn, emptying out their small town for the celebration to come.
Driving in Packard’s, Ford Coupes, and old dented...

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The desk was half submerged in a lake of papers.
She felt so adult, being invited for coffee.
But get outta here. With your remarkable eyes and.. WEDDING RING
The question hung invisibly in the air.
What does that...

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It was "Girls' Night Out"
At the local watering hole
So my bestie and me
Headed there at a stroll.

A crisp autumn night
And we both wore our furs
I joked she was a copycat
Saying she should change hers.

She stopped...

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Mariah needed to get to the Hollywood Hills
She recognized this mission was her destiny
Tell everyone her mother encouraged her
It was 1974, when rides were free

She hitchhiked from Ohio to California
Singing folk songs with strangers 
In...

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It sits out in your driveway
a glittering metallic sculpture.
It costs more than your house,
you love it more than your spouse.
You can hardly drive it, it’s too high,
you can barely park it, it’s so wide.
Like an...

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O Ye what are you waiting for?
Fly on the wings of hope,
This sky is waiting for you
The shadow is fed up of staying
Fly on fly on until you reach your goals

Obstacles are milestones to cross
Determination...

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OK, maybe he is right. Maybe a cowboy he's not. He is a mechanic, a 
pediatrician, an obstetrician, a veterinary, a plumber (wells), a house keeper 
(stalls), a blacksmith, a dietician, a truck driver, a...

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Spurs still jingle on booted feet,
And no one turns to stare.
"Howdy" is heard on any street -
Laughter's everywhere.

Old pickups are the wheels of choice -
Beats autos ten to one.
Horse trailers give the streets a voice
Where...

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1. A barrier intended to prevent escape 
or intrusion or to mark a boundary, 
the T-post-and-hogwire our neighbor put up 
flush against the common one-lane road – 
no shoulder, no turnouts. (If you break 
down,...

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Chicago's been dubbed the windy town,
but Great Falls has that tag nailed down.
If you're facing Montana's fierce wind,
you're moving where you didn't intend.

Prairie grass rolls like ocean waves,
tumbleweed mounds resemble graves.
Aspen leaves' fluttery swirls abound,
scarcely...

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Four faces
ten cows
40 people
a river runs through it
Aberdeen Rapid City Sioux Falls
crops of corn soybeans 
hog factory ethanol highway interstate 
flat plains shadow of Rockies
sparse vast country music cowboy hats
pickups tractors American flag whackos
jacks coyotes
buffalo...

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Part 2: 
To the Inn

This is "the meaning", the miss with no clue. For a kiss when you're down and the out is in view. There is waiting in watching with no passing bye. Like...

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