hitch-hiker

November 10, 1970  (I was 25)

         hitch-hiker

I gave a man a ride today

he said he was fifty-six

I only knew he had an old mouth

said he’d slept outside last night

only had a cup of coffee

and that was yesterday morning

We talked of hitch-hiking and I lied

for one reason or another

about understanding what it was to be fifty-six and

on the road  Then rather than lie some more

I stopped talking and listened

Now with Nixon was like then with Hoover

It’s hell to get a job when you’re fifty-six

Unloaded a lot of frozen beef in Oakland

working for those damned Texans who never worked

will barely give you a rag

and won’t buy you a cup of coffee

California is filled to the brim with people

who thought it would be something better

and people think because you’re 56 and hitch-hiking

you got a gun and want to rob them

They never think maybe you want to go somewhere

I dropped him at Big Daddy’s  He took a quarter and said

“Both ways”