If you’d met him
on a Greyhound bus
in 1962 he’d have asked you
to look out for Kerouac
on every corner or find
Mickey Mouse

beneath a palm tree
sweeping streets
with brooms that danced
themselves to life
at parties just for you

If he was drunk
he’d drizzle Steinback
over Shakespeare, float
O’Casey’s Irish brogue
on top of Tennessee, and wait
for Godot with you
if you got lonely

on the carpet in your underwear
and cowboy hat. Later
he’d pour method
into Montague,
muddle warnings up
with wanderlust,

be once again Big Daddy
sipping Cointreau slow
when the bus
dropped me off each afternoon
from school.

Mara Lee Grayson’s poetry has appeared in various literary journals and has been nominated for the Best of the Net and four times for the Pushcart Prize. Grayson holds a PhD from Columbia University and an MFA from The City College of New York, and is the author or editor of five books of nonfiction. Look for her on social media, @maraleegrayson, and on her website: maragrayson.com.