Colin Dodds

Offramp Tavern


This exit on the lonesome highway
between desiderata and detritus
is not a bad place to pass the time

Construction workers reenact old arguments
with Lou Ferrigno Go ahead, chase me, Lou!
while baseball and the other ways
they trick little boys into civilization
play all night

Heads like helmets of a defeated army
Faces borrowed, blended and repeated by hardship and rain
sweetened by cheats now ancient enough to be called virtues
—a path in the dirty linoleum where dirty shoes
have worn the dirt away

A broken lampshade sheds light like a torn brassiere
Paper money folds like cold cuts
The band reenacts the last won war
or pleads with the last good thing
just in case it’s listening

Unsounded inside God’s best idea, going on
making no sense, wood grain of our smoke
sidewalk of our spit, plaster of our neglect
The old song, the old three dimensions
same as wherever we were taking a break from

Just glad to be out of the traffic
Road Less Traveled backed up all the way to Garden City
Path of Least Resistance at least as bad

The unmistakable metaphysical underpinnings
of whatever it is you’re up to—the urgent whatever
It ain’t going nowhere



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The views and opinions expressed throughout belong to the individual artists and may or may not coincide with those of the other artists (or editors) represented within the magazine. Hobo Camp Review supports a free-for-all atmosphere of artistic expression, so enjoy the poetry, fiction, opinions, and artwork within, read with an open mind, and comment wisely. Thanks for stopping by the Camp!