If Lost

Lawrence S. Pertillar 1947 (Connecticut)



If lost.
And in need to get directions.
To find a quick exit.
Out of a neighborhood.
Where the people sit on stoops.
And dudes appear to look,
Like gangsters wanted for crimes.
Standing on a street corner.
You could swear you have seen before,
In pictures posted,
As Most Wanted by the FBI.
On a Post Office wall to notice.
In that small rural hometown of yours.
As you picked up baked cookies,
Your grandmother sent from Kansas.

And you decided to pay her a surprise visit.
By taking a train.
And that train stopped.
For an hour layover.
In a place that you believe,
You actually saw on TV.

Do not fear to approach,
Any one of those 'characters' to ask...
Where to go to get,
The nearest bus that leaves town.
To catch a train.
And you needed to get a bite to eat.
Since food to buy on trains isn't cheap.

'Excuse me,
Brothers of the hood.
Looking as 'bad' as you could.
Do any of you know...
Where I can go,
To get change for a hundred dollar bill?
I only have 30 of them in my pocket.
You see...
The food on trains ain't cheap at all.
Perhaps one of you can assist me?
With change I can use.
And direct me as what I should do next!
You all must be going over your lines,
For your upcoming scenes.'

'Uh...yeah...Sure!
Leave everything with us.
Including your clothes.
And leave us as fast as you can.'

'I'm serious.
Stop joking like that.
What do you take me for?
Some kind of innocent idiot?
I've seen all of your pictures,
In the Post Office where I live.
Nice.
I'm not that stupid, you know.
I do have a TV.
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Submitted by lpahtillah on July 14, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:30 min read
7

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXAXXXBCXXDXXD EFXBXG XXXXFXX GAAHHXEGXGXXXX BDXX DXCEXXXHG
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,459
Words 298
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 15, 6, 7, 14, 4, 9

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