Where
are you tonight
Bunky?
flying
over
California
shore lines
where
we
jumped
the rocks
at
low tide,
battled
black murky
January
surf
(I didn't
mean
to hit you
with
a rock once
in the
head
Remember?)
Drove
your
brother's car
without
a license
rolling
it out
noiselessly
waiting
to pop
the
clutch
at
the bottom
of
the hill
where
we thought
your
mother
wouldn’t
hear us
Where
will we go now : out to Bird Rock?
climb
past the wind wet promontory
dark
windowed rock house
haunted
by the sea
each
last wave
sucked
back
from
the smooth stoned shore
a
long moist breath
taken
in through the teeth
No
stock car races
to
sneak into
: I'm through
the
barbed wire
Catch me
when I fall
No
ties or striped belts
left
to shoplift
laughing
at
the buckle
sliding
out
my pant leg
The
corner cop!
knew
nothing
So
cool
checking
records on the racks
we
walked out
with
10 or 12 lps
under
my baggy jacket
went
home
to
be bombarded
by
Bird Bach
Beethoven's
5th
•
Then
why did you die
dropped
from
the sky
cremated
in
that Navy jet
they
loaned you
for
your life
3
days before
we
would have been
together
Chet
Baker
sounding
his gold horn
still
caught
in
the slow motion haze of the 50s can't
bring
you back
©
1968 Philip Johnson
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