Small-Town Illinois Boy, 1974

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Small-Town Illinois Boy, 1974

Some time it was,
it was a time of
muggy summer nights,
a yellow-moon that shone
through the corn-haze, past the
pulsing cicadas. Alice Cooper
yowled from the window
of a Mustang that crept
under the arching elms.
The red glow of a cigarette.
A tobacco threat exhaled
through the window into
the thickening air.
These bad boys of summer
are old and gray. Their
swagger sags. From the porch
couch, they watch the world pass by,
wondering if the kids will
finally call, or if they should
just pop another beer and be
done with it for the
rest of the evening.

– Steve Peterson

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Steve Peterson

I teach fifth grade in Iowa.

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