Two Poems by John Nettles
	
1. Smoky Mountain Setback

Driving blind-curve Carolina passfast too fast, you know, and reckless butdarkness cuts travel time and you needspeed, coffee plucks your nervestrings,sings in your eyes, you couldn’t goslow if you tried, full moon at your backjacks you up like bad memory driving

Broken glass diamonds on the road inoverloading headlight glareflare into sudden screaming ganglia twitchswitch into reflex jerk on the wheelrealtime stretches and snaps backsmack across the eyes and you seethree bodies split and broken

Smoke from wreck of pickup overturnedburned collapsed, roof crushed, one slow tire on fire, spinning stench of charred rubber outdoubtless bodies were passengers in the bed,dead on the road, but where’s the driver?survivor you hope, without looking at flattened cabgrab nose close eyes to blood brains and smoke

Clutch your gut stumble to the guardrailfrail barrier between road and falling gorgegorge rising, shooting in burning-truck glowso helpless, aware of a space between secondsthat reckons three (four) die and you livegive them one last tick of your timeclimb into car quietly thrumming, pop the clutch

There but for the grace, three-point turn,tableau glow recedes,full moon reclaims its place,trembling foot hard on the petal,resume driving.

2. Peter Boyle is Dead and Browsing

One night at the bookstore,Peter Boyle the actorcame in, minding his ownbusiness, browsing,no fuss or fanfare, justshopping, when one of the bluevested employees recognized him,walked up hesitantly, said,"Aren’t you Peter Boyle,the actor?" The actornodded and the blue vestgaped, "I thoughtyou were dead."

The vest had just readin a movie magazinethat Peter Boylethe actor had died. Heshowed Boyle his deathnotice, and the actor laughedand bought ten copies.

To go browsing for booksand find out you’re not dead.Now that’scustomer service.