Poetry Train Monday - 131 - He Would Find Me in Testament, Virginia

Heading towards Christmas - woo hoo! 10 days till Christmas Eve!! - here's my found poem which I've reworked from a passage by Jack Kerouac.

I'm currently reading On the Road for the Dewey Reading Challenge.


















He Would Find Me in Testament, Virginia

At Christmas 1948
My aunt and I
Went down to visit my brother
In Virginia, laden with presents

I had been writing to Dean
Dean said he was coming East again
I told him if so
He would find me in Testament, Virginia
Between Christmas and New Year's

I had been spending a quiet Christmas
In the country

A mud-spattered '49 Hudson
Drew up in front of the house
A weary young fellow
Muscular and ragged in a T-shirt
Came to the porch
Rang the bell
I opened the door

It was Dean
Dean had come

All the way from San Francisco
To my brother Rocco's door
"But how did you get here so fast?"
"Ah, man, that Hudson goes!"

In the car
I could see two figures sleeping

Big tall Ed Dunkel
Dean's sweet first wife, Mary Lou

Dunkel worked on the railroad
He and Dean had just been laid off

Mary Lou was the only girl
Dean had ever loved
He'd been living with Camille
Became the father
Of a cute little girl
Amy

Saw a '49 Hudson for sale
Rushed to the bank
Dean calmed Camille's fears
Said, "Sal has pleaded and begged with me
Begged me to come and get him
It is absolutely necessary
But we won't go into
All these explanations"

He zoomed into Denver
Ran and found Mary Lou

They had ten hours of wild lovemaking
I had been spending a quiet Christmas
In the country

Dean pleaded and begged
At her knees
For the joy of her being

She understood Dean
She stroked his hair
She knew he was mad

They arrived at my brother's door
They had not eaten for thirty hours
Except for candy
And cheese crackers

My sister-in-law made a spread
The three battered travellers
Sat down to eat
Southerners
Don't like madness
Not Dean's kind

I saw the Christmas tree
The presents

The madness of Dean
Had bloomed into a
Weird flower

He and I and Mary Lou and Dunkel
Left the house
For a brief spin-the-Hudson
For the first time we were alone
Could talk about anything we wanted

He bought cigarettes
He seemed to be doing everything
At the same time
A shaking of the head
Up and down, sideways
Jerky, vigorous hands
Quick walking, sitting, crossing the legs
Uncrossing, getting up
Rubbing the hands, hitching his pants
Looking up, sudden slitting of the eyes
To see everywhere

And all the time
He was grabbing me
Grabbing me by the ribs
And talking, talking

It was very cold in Testament
They'd had an unseasonable snow

I had listened to the talk
Of the relatives
My aunt and I
Had visited my brother
Laden with presents

Dean stood
In the long bleak main street
That runs along the railroad
Clad in nothing
But a T-shirt and low-hanging pants
The belt unbuckled

His laugh was maniacal
It started low
And ended high

We got in the car
And flew back
To my brother's house

I had been spending a quiet Christmas
In the country
I realized
When we got back into the house
When I saw the Christmas tree
When I saw the presents
When I smelled the roasting turkey
When I listened to the talk of the relatives

Now the bug was on me again
And the bug's name was Dean Moriarty

And I was off on another spurt
Around the road

- Jack Kerouac, 1955

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Thomma Lyn Grindstaff says So evocative. I'm going to have to read On the Road. I think I'd love it.

Akelamalu says I so enjoyed that Julia, thankyou. x