Escaping Dakota

Drunk on Bali Hai again,

Perched upon hay bales;

Ice skating in a frozen park,

Were my winter’s Dakota tales…

This bearded, pierced-ear protester,

The Vietnam war, growing old,

Had an iced-in prairie prisoner's dream,

Of escaping his exile of cold.

Want ads for a ride share home,

Attracted a recently jailed,

Braless, lesbian, with hippie dreads,

And me, whom the Midwest failed.

Exhausted in Wyoming,

We stopped at the first rest stop,

The hippie took a topless stroll,

Attracting a pink Cadillac cop.

The license plate said, “Sheriff”,

Between the two pink fins…

He threatened to arrest us,

For her Godless Hippie sins. 

Not guilty, but really mortified,

How the start of our trip went down.

The Cadillac and a cowboy posse

Formed and led us out of town.

Our u-joint started knocking,

Finally breaking in Salt Lake City;

The disapproving Mormon glares,

Said we’re in the Town Without Pity.

Safely back in California,

The hippie used my parent’s phone;

They discovered her huge phone bill

A month after she left their home.