Member Poem

Hot summer nights,
the asphalt still shimmering
while the air begins to sizzle
beneath the buzzing yellow lights
on that first stop of teenage angst.
Sugary soda-foam laughter
and the deep-fried odors
of hot dogs and hormones
drifts in the twice-baked breeze.
Rock and roll speed machines
flashing steel and turtle-wax
wait impatiently in the darkness beyond
like circling sharks with radiator teeth
and glass-pack voices.
Lured in from the living night
to this electric oasis in the city--
moths to a sodium vapor flame.
The day forgotten for a few hours
and school an unwanted memory
where the cutting-edge of danger
and the scars of youthful warfare
hide among the denim uniforms
of clean and cool--
a colorful flotsam froth
on the night's blacktop shore.
The world beyond is evanescent
through the hazy blue smoke
of pilfered Lucky Strikes
and molten rubber screeching in the dark.
White shirts and black leather set the pace,
and the only drag around here
is in the midnight streets
where hot gasoline blood pumps
through chrome-plated visions
of starting-line fear and finish-line grandeur.
The philosophy of teenage wasteland
is all speed and show,
how quick can you get there
and how good you look when you arrive
at this nexus of carnival chaos and bravado.
Keep cool, man,
just keep cool
'cause that's all that matters
in the here and now.
Forget about tomorrow
because tomorrow, you'll do it all again,
fighting for that moment of glory
that will echo down through the years
with a triumphant smile.

Originally published under the nom de guerre, twowolves80 at https://allpoetry.com/poem/12525327-Glory-Nights-by-Twowolves80