Change of Diet
Inevitable I’d lose faith
in beans and franks tuna salad Cheez Whiz
when confronted by that killer whale of first love
and decades later my synapses
have not recovered
the memory of lying on the floor after
with her on the bed beside me
reaching down to trail her fingers across my cheek
wreaks havoc
palpitations
strummed numb.
I could have died at that very moment
and been just as happy still.
***
On the Lam with the Beach Boys
After the carnage
of the 60s
we stole Phoebe’s cab
and hit the road
Carl and Dennis strapped to the roof
Brian, Mike and Al in the back
hunkered in a funk
singing harmonic jeremiads
perched on their psychedelic hemorrhoid rings.
Too intense.
Here we go
burning down the highway
so young so young so young
the wind kicking up
storm rolling in
waves of rain
hydroplaning down the Ventura freeway
the boys leaning out the windows
hanging five
hanging ten
hanging in there
remembering all of the women
who wouldn’t bend
to their music
but danced the night away
danced in the streets
danced them to the end of love.
Rick Adang graduated from Indiana University with a BA in English and a Creative Writing Honors thesis. He taught English as a foreign language for many years and is currently living in Estonia. He has had poems published in Paris Review, Chicago Review, and many other literary magazines.