Scott T. Hutchison

RUNNING FROM COPS

You should. You should take a stab at
a little larceny, a modicum of mayhem,
theft and vandalism in a modest amount.
And when the blues roll in on you,
put those flash-footed shoes
in the night wind. Allow alarm
to become a racing joy.

Avoid humiliation in central processing,
enduring the texture and smell of steel bed
and the piss pail--hard and stinking real--along with
the unbreakable bars, the monsters
and the screws—these
destinies reserved for the hard time future
and lockdown outcome
plaguing slow-dumb stumblers,
junked-up foggers.

But you, just do a little bit of bad.
Keep the clear mind, know the slick
sprint routes, the creative lose ‘em corners
and the daring darts into darkness—you don’t need
to hurt nobody calling down the heat--just get loose,
let your mischief do a light boil, and when righteous pursuit
is hot on your ass--breathe deep through those fiery lungs
feel the adrenalin conspire and laugh
through your hard-working thighs—be smartly scared
of the incarcerating possible, but be doubly awed
by the chaotic power of your lively escape
beneath the winking stars.


Scott reads "Running from Cops":



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Scott confesses: "Anyone having run from cops can tell you: there's a special adrenaline fire in your feet. Such running can be fun if you were only doing mischief and you got away. Then, when the heart slows down, you can kind of laugh. You got lucky. I've had that fire in my feet. I enjoy it as memory—not something I continue to choose as an experience. Even with the extra boost in the blood, I can't imagine running that fast ever again."

SCOTT T. HUTCHISON's previous work has appeared in Loud Zoo, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, and Massacre. Poems are forthcoming in Louisiana Literature, Appalachian Heritage, The Adirondack Review, The Comstock Review, and Tar River Poetry. A new book of poems entitled Moonshine Narratives is due out in late 2018 from Main Street Rag Publishing.