The sun beats down on tin roofs,
a burning fist from God – the One who made
the cactus flower bloom, and needles to protect it.
Two boys lock eyes at 70 mph.
The bronze one standing still,
surrounded by flowers and needles.
The white one protected by his blue flying carpet
speeding through the Rez.
A boy can learn all he needs to
know flying at 70 mph,
or standing still. A boy learns:
who is already lost,
who will be in the end.
He learns tomorrow can be a block of granite,
today is a ticking watch,
and yesterday belongs to the dream catcher.
A boy learns on the Rez:
He learns the future can be a souvenir,
a trinket sold at the roadside,
fool’s gold dug from his nails.
He learns tomorrow comes
like a blue jacketed bullet,
like a bronze tipped arrow
-like something dangerous
speeding through the Rez.
This poem is based on an encounter looking out of the window of a blue 1963 Chevy Impala near Needles, CA.
Rez = Reservation
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Speeding Through the Rez 1963
16 Thursday Jan 2014
Posted in poems
Poetry on the run 
ha. when younger i used to kick up the speed quite a bit…fastest i ever went was 126 in a patrol car…was pretty crazy but we were on a call…but you can learn a lot flying down the road…a sense of how fast it all flows past….i like the future as a bullet or arrow, def both dangerous…
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Have to smile at the location, Ron, as I’m in the California desert right now and it’s warm enough to speed through in a rag-top. I like how you focused this poem on the verb “learn.” It ties it all in.
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I enjoyed the repetition of the verb “learn” in the poem. I could definitely feel the “motion” in this poem. Life goes so quickly at times and then seems still at others…beautiful capture.
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Lessons learned, however they are learned, are valuable indeed. Some powerful learnings in this poem.
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sometimes the young take a while to learn, I really enjoyed the flow of this and the last 2 stanzas especially – thank you for writing.
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A boy has much to learn ..but speeding is especially seductive..wisdom and time he calms down and philosophizes..
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He learns tomorrow can be a block of granite,
today is a ticking watch,
and yesterday belongs to the dream catcher…. my fav part… over here in germany we have no speed limit on some highways and that can be scary at times… i once had a boyfriend who was in his free time driving rental cars back and forth to the different places…once he had a bmw – i sat on the passenger seat and he was driving 240 km/h…. oy… that is scarily fast…
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He learns tomorrow comes like something dangerous… beautiful. I also like – the bronze one standing still the white one protected.. so true.. great images and thoughts. Really nice…
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took me back to driving highway 666 up from Gallup, New Mexico — “He learns tomorrow can be a block of granite,” that will be a hard lesson.
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bronze tipped arrow – Great image and that granite line is excellent, full of great images and life.
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There are many things a boy learns, and has yet to learn! Powerful poem, Ron!
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Boy learns to grow big……. I have a son who is 5 yet i can see him do gr8…………..and how he learns……….
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Loved this … felt the speed. Ha, I used to love sports cars and took my TR6 up to 115 on a newly opened empty highway – when young and foolish!
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This poem rocks the prompt, tastes like Sherman Alexie, and reminds me of how soon we adjust to speed in an Impala; had a ’68 SS ragtop 396 4-speed that I used to tear through Needles, CA in; nice ride, sir.
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Amazing the crazy things we have done… I remember pushing an old Peugeot 1964 up to 170 km/h (downhill) … thinking I was immortal.
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Yeah, you can get a major rush from speeding…boys especially it seems need to “race” through life sometimes. I could feel their adrenaline! Really enjoyed this and wondered if “Rez” referred to a reservation.
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yes ‘rez’ is a slang term for reservation…sorry i didn’t explain that in a footnote.
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Well you know I’m glad that I picked up on that…thanks for clarifying, Ronald.
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Great imagery here Ron and we – whatever age – have much to learn.
(Just been googling Rez (without success) before I came down to comments – so now I know!)
Anna :o]
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Anna :o] I forgot that Rez is colloquialism and should have put a footnote…in fact I think I’ll do just that. Thanks for reading the poem and commenting.
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