Doug Draime

ON HIGHWAY 66

No indoor plumbing and
nada electricity.
A shot gun, or 30-30
in every rusted out pickup truck.
Most not quite certain
of their biological parents,
as they run the major
businesses, churches,
and bars
in the white trash ghetto.

Dilapidated schools and
skin heads and
Aryan Brotherhood burning
down houses for
the insurance money.
Prostitution conducted out the back door
of a prominent
funeral home and you can get embalmed,
any thrill you crave for
a 20-dollar bill and
a corroded pipe of meth.


Doug reads "On Highway 66":



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Doug confesses: "'Highway 66' is a relatively factual description of a rural area here in southern Oregon where I've lived since 1981. Little embellishment was necessary, though I'm pretty sure that if you're seeking an actual embalmment of a body, it might run you a lot more than a twenty spot. Of course, this poem could be talking about any rural area in the US of A, which, unfortunately, goes without saying, is a sad comment on the crumbling landscape of this country."

DOUG DRAIME's most recent book is More Than The Alley, a full-length collection from Interior Noise Press. Also available are three chapbooks: Los Angeles Terminal: Poems 1971-1980 (Covert Press), Rock 'n Roll Jizz (Propaganda Press, and an online chap, Speed of Light (Right Hand Pointing). Draime emerged as a presence in the 'underground' literary movement in Los Angles in the late 1960s. He was awarded small PEN grants in 1987, 1991, and 1992, and has been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes in last few years. He currently lives in the foothills of Oregon.