.................................
I Love Rock and Roll
.................................

my first brush with a gang had been my own
we were like a cult band of eight year olds
and we were so tough
i kicked younger and older kids
out of the backseat of the bus
because that was where we sat
because that was the space we needed to sing
Joan Jett's I Love Rock and Roll,
at the top of our lungs
and make the driver hate us
he did
but he loved us also
in South Carolina in 1979 there were no rules
high schoolers were allowed to drive buses
as long as you were free from 6-8 in the morning and 2-4 in the afternoon
you could drive a bus
so they did
and it would be only years later
seatbelt laws later
flashes of common sense later
that someone thought
this may not be a good idea
not while i was riding that bus though
I Love Rock and Roll was just the song
and a teenage bus driver who didn't give a shit
was just the vehicle we needed
to let us get away with whatever we wanted
i kissed the first guy i went with in that back of that bus
i also pushed away the first creep who tried to kiss me

i wore forest long green corduroy jeans
my hair fell brown and stringy down my back
and the bus ride took forever
and these were the moments when it seemed to us
like we could never have asked for anything more

.................................
Michele Walker
.................................

 
Copyright © Michele Walker
March 1998

...a poem in this room by Lee Tracy...
Planet Ocean: Dancing to the Fossil Record
Return to Agnieszka's Dowry Welcoming Room