On mornings like this as I drive toward work at 6:21 am

4^th Street stretches ahead

without end

as I stick my arm out my window and roll back

my sunroof as the sky begins to lighten

my long-dead father

waves to me from a barber chair as the red white and blue pole spins

ready to tell me never-before-told stories of riding boxcars in the depression

the man

in the donut shop window waving his arms with wild eyes delivering a speech

to the rest of the donut munchers knows the secret

to world peace

Jim Morrison

didn’t die but is a minor aging poet with long gray hair walking to a beat in his head

he wants me to get him a reading

at the Long Beach Poetry Festival

he sticks out his thumb and I wave at him but keep on rolling because I will always

have my chances to stop and give him a ride and listen to him

audition

Charlie Chaplin twirling his cane as he waits at a bus stop

a whiff

of albondigas soup from the red  brick Honduras Kitchen

Buddhists

in orange robes leaving the monastery to walk down sidewalks and see

gas stations and old men walking dogs

in the sunrise

Charlie Parker

standing on a corner kicking the heroin and booze for good with a cup of black coffee

in his fist

and the next great jazz breakthrough

in his head

I could ride 4^th Street forever

but I turn and head for the freeway

to roll into work

on a morning like this I am not just another factory worker

but the only machinist poet on earth

the one no High School

or university or job ad ever

predicted

and there is nothing on earth I would rather do than pick up a wrench

and wonder who

will step out of the shadows to stroll down 4^th Street

tomorrow.

See Fred Voss, Joan Jobe Smith and friends at the Betsy Trotwood, 56 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3BL on 13 July at 7:30.pm. Admission: free.

About N/A N/A

Fred Voss, a machinist for 32 years, has had three collections of poetry published by Bloodaxe Books. He is regularly published in magazines such as Poetry Review, Ambit, Atlanta Review, and Pearl, and has twice been the subject of programmes about his poetry on BBC Radio 4. Fred is regularly invited to read in the UK, including the Ledbury Poetry Festival, and in 2011 he and his wife, poet Joan Jobe Smith, were featured readers at the University of Pittsburgh. His latest book, Hammers and Hearts of the Gods, was selected by the Morning Star as one of the Top Seven Books for 2009. In 2011, the third edition of the eclectic hardcover journal Dwang (Tangerine Press) included a special section of his work, with new poems, a critical essay, an interview, etc. In summer 2012, World Parade Books will publish his first novel, Making America Strong.

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America Charlie Chaplin Charlie Parker Fred Voss Jim Morrison Long Beach