junior-grade Kerouacs and Cassidys
talking about the glorious "Road to Emmaus."
yet each day their energies remain idled,
dull, humorless audience, deaf to new
magic. a "risen moment." the young shaman-
philosopher's call to follow me,
necessary reality of tavern, coffee
house locale for silent regular musings,
as if each morning like Scarlett's Tara,
they can declare "it stands,"
continuous cerebral masturbation, never
reaching orgasm, wisdom always stillborn.
timid victims resisting the risk of
change, lost to the desires for comfort and
convenience, pack, sleeping bag. notebooks,
shack matches, pork and beans, the road still
there, but for someone else.