Sunday, June 1, 2014

Gas Station Boy




Gas Station Boy 


By any account he was a sturdy boy
leaning against the gas station wall -his scent,
wafting the just born morning- mix of gasoline,
this morning’s cologne and yesterday’s sweat, from
when he left the station to chase that toddler girl
who wandered while her mama was fixing her lipstick and
making eyes at him – just one of countless pairs of eyes – 
that traveled his lean body – smoldered with that shocking hunger –
He was a sturdy boy – baby fat turning more muscled each morning 
in this lazy launch across the fluid terrain
toward manhood-looming,
in the endless fields of waving
wheat into the distance,
paving his untraveled road –
as he, toothpick jaunty and threatening
whistled a jovial timeless tune, 
one leg leaning against the concrete wall 
in the just born morning, inhaling
the rising sun and himself and 
feeling something inexplicable uncurl within 
like a jungle cat, stretching strong and agile 
already flying across  the amber fields - 
setting his still planted feet against that quiet wall 
twitching, toothpick trembling 
against a tidal wave  of need 
rising - roaring silently 
across the quiet cool morning 
rippling the wheat fields 
washing him as he stood 
soaked in irrepressible urge
to 
run 
            
soon

13 comments:

  1. Pearl, this is a wonderful portrait of an adolescent on the verge of manhood. The details you included made him come alive, and you made his urge to run palpable. The wordle words got lost in your poem. If I had not seen them below, I wouldn't have realized....

    ReplyDelete
  2. The soon is always the sticking point isn't it..could picture and inhale every inch of this piece..

    ReplyDelete
  3. twitching, toothpick trembling
    against a tidal wave of need
    rising - roaring silently
    across the quiet cool morning

    Young heart of a lover boy is all the while immersed in recollections of feelings of love. They would succumb to natural tendencies, certainly. Great write Dr Pearl!

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful piece of writing, Pearl. Brought me right there into that very moment.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can see him clearly, and love "in the just born morning."

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is a wonderful profile of the boy/man on the brink of his future. Simply excellent!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What is so great about this is the atmosphere you create with the clipped rural style and that urge that many a reader would have had to break free from the chains of the mundane. He hasn't seen the world but he wants it nevertheless.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wonderful poem and you capture the restless of the person so perfectly

    ReplyDelete
  9. Seems too to be a common experience for the butcher shop boy, and the paper boy, and the grocery delivery boy, and the pool boy, and the lawn care boy, and the . . . . .

    ReplyDelete