Tom Lyford has original poetry books and memoirs for sale on-line, and offers poetry readings and workshops in northern New England...
  • Home
    • MISSION STATEMENT
    • MISSION RESTATEMENT
    • LIJAH
  • Hometown D-F
    • Dover-Foxcroft: the BORING FACTS yadda yadda
    • D-F IMAGES
    • DOVER-FOXCROFT...?
  • Poems
    • D-F POEMS >
      • THE ARRIVAL
      • FIRE AND ICE
      • GOOD OL BOYS
      • MASONRY
      • MERRICK SQUARE MARKET
      • PLEASANT STREET ELEMENTARY
      • THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD
      • THE PLEASANT STREET PHANTOM
      • MASONRY
    • CEREBRAL SIMILES >
      • EASTER PARADE
      • ALTERED STATES
      • TELEPHONE POLES
      • GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
      • MEMPHIS BELLE
      • THIS BODY?
      • THE BIG CHILL
    • JUKEBOX POETRY >
      • 102.5
      • INVITATION TO THE BLUES
      • JUKE BOX JOHNNY
      • REQUIEM
      • SPELLBOUND
      • WOLFEN
    • RUMINATIONS >
      • 3RD ROCK
      • I ROBOT
      • ORIENTATION
      • THE RIGHT STUFF
      • VECTOR ANALYSIS
    • NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE, TOTO >
      • EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS!!!
      • WITNESS PROTECTION COUNTY
      • TWO-HEADED MAN RUNS FOR MAYOR
      • THE STING
    • TRIBUTES >
      • TO LEONARD...
      • MR. SALINGER...
      • MIXIN' UP THE MEDICINE
      • RIDING AROUND IN STEPHEN KING
  • Prose
    • Man on the Flying Trapeze
  • Bio
  • Reviews
    • NO DAFFODILS REVIEW
    • PLAYING WITH FIRE
    • PLAYING WITH FIRE (Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards Commentary)
    • MY CINEMA PARADISO
    • KILROY WAS HERE and WORK AVERSION TRAUMA double-review
    • AMERICANA REVIEW
    • PLEASANT STREET REVIEW
  • Events
  • Influences
    • LITERARY
    • MOTIVATIONAL
    • BIZARRO
  • eMail
  • Buy
  • A / V
    • Video Catalogue
    • Audio
  • BLOG
  • Platonic Cave

WITNESS PROTECTION COUNTY

Picture
NO COMMENT
From the south and the west, they head northeast
born-again 'zombies,' officially ‘deceased’
they come from Nowhere, any old place
their backtracks, vanished – left no trace
followin’ the drinkin’ gourd’s cold
north star
raisin’ your hackles like an old film noir
raisin’ your hackles like an old film noir

Got a fresh driver’s license, an accent urbane
they land up here in the backwoods of Maine
lookin’ like lost ones jus' been found
nervous shifty eyes jus' a-glancin’ all around
got a mortgage on a house sittin’ just up the hill
got a job makin’ fabric up at Guilford Woolen Mill
got a job makin’ fabric up at Guilford Woolen Mill

Buy their frozen pizzas at the local Shop ‘n Save
their kids go to school and they never misbehave
they never go to church and they never join a club
and never hang out at the local grille and pub…
man seems content with his nondescript life,
woman kinda acts like a Stepford wife
yeah the woman kinda acts like a Stepford wife

Ask him his name and he’ll smile real polite
but he’s radiatin’ nervousness— real uptight
and you know he’ll be a ‘Jones’ or a ‘Johnson’ or a ‘
Smith’
he’s just lip-synchin’ recent memorized myth
and his first name’s ‘Tom,’ ‘Dick,’ or ‘Harry,’ ‘Ed,’ or ‘John’
not a name to call attention, just a name to make you yawn
not a name to call attention, just a name to make you yawn

You wonder what they’re doin’ here and what they did
are they some sorta modern-day Billy the Kid?
were they some kinda Godfather once in the news
makin’ too many offers that you couldn’t just refuse?
did they ever run guns for the CIA?
did they turn state’s evidence in court to get away?
did they turn state’s evidence in court to get away?

From the south and the west, they head northeast
born-again ‘zombies,’ officially ‘deceased’
they come from Nowhere, any old place
their backtracks, vanished – they’ve left no trace
followin’ the drinkin’ gourd’s cold
North Star
they arrive in droves—beneath the radar

got a whole new life and a new used car...

Dover-Foxcroft's Rogue Poet Laureate since... well, OK... only 2010