Poem by Jack Powers

Howdy Hibbings

you can’t get the bubblegum out of your hair
even with a music-minus-one score for clarinet
which you whistle
between runs
for the flourishing numbers racket or
delousing exercises with wooly mammoths on Disney ice skates
at Rockefella Plaza del teatro
of the berserk while
waiting in line for painless
vasectomies or
dehydrated breakfast equivalent still
munching fingernail clippings from Rosemary’s baby,
Titanic over easy, but then,
lifeboats are for survivors
which is all you intend to be
unless with super luck a motorcyclist tucks
your crotch against his fanny and you both
roar off
ending up in the center of a basement tapes session
backed up by toilets which makes you glad
for the high heel boots even if you aren’t really wandering
and then, it’s suddenly, Bobby turns toward you,
guitar string hanging out, says Hi in a drawl
and you dissolve
like one of his dreams
like a razor-edged diamond
in a glass held by Capt. Ahab.

Jack Powers founded Stone Soup Poetry in 1971 and hosted the series for over 30 years, publishing over 100 books and journals. He passed away in 2010. The above poem appeared in issue #22 of the journal Stone Soup in 1974.

James Conant is a Cambridge artist who has recently added photography to his skills, which include clay sculpture, pen and ink, montages, and pencil art. He is always available for work and collaboration.