by Martin Anton Smith martinantonsmith@gmail.com
Post Covid – the ‘Sneak Aways’ had all but ‘dried up’.
Prior to all the madness,
As orchestrated by the Politician ‘Bond Villain’ control freaks,
That not only litter the landscape, but carve it up,
Via slights of hand & its extension – the Missile.
Yes – The regular ‘Sneakaway’ jaunts did flow smoothly,
As did the hazy ales & Burger Joint meals.
As did the Rock ‘N’ Roll tunes,
Played by many the lesser known,
Young but also more known & aging,
‘Semi Traveling Wilberrys’.
And the ‘Sneakaways’ always ended as they should:
Half content & half disorientated,
That comes with visitation to mass transit points,
Aka locales of ‘Spiritual Vortexes & Clandestine Battlefields’
Yes – these are ‘The Sneakaways’
The Spots Where There Are Always & Many
Souls for someone to save.
I did take my modern-day petrol eating horseless wagon,
And parked it by the lake – where later I would later rest my head.
The Pool Joint I did end up.
To cut a too long Poem shorter,
It contained the following:
Ten Big Pool Tables
Pizza’s
30 odd Patrons – aka The ‘New Age Gold Diggers’,
The Ones Working in Low Wage Hospo & Labouring & Paying a Tonne For Rent-
i.e half the town & three quarters of the most visible town-walkers
These “most visible town-walkers” are not mining gold any more but are mining ‘experiences’.
But in Truth, the real reasons they are here – will only crystallise years later – after deep life introspection.
When ‘Old Father Time’ strips away all the smoke & haze & thus reality can emerge with perfect clarity.
Yes – here I am in the Pool Bar.
As an aging semi-life-experienced fella, I begun dishing out ‘how the world works’ epithets –
Which were lapped up by these scattered young men, who all pine for the fatherly & brotherly guidance,
That they probably, almost certainly never got.
I Of course, didn’t mind playing the role, as I played Pool & chugged the affordable beers.
But I ask you – what single, childless 45-year-old man wouldn’t?
He would & does for himself – and he helps heal some wounds as the by-product.
I mean it’s far easier & immediately rewarding AND entertaining than being
A a REAL DAD or even a Older Brother.
It Is All reward with ZERO risk.
The Pool night was short sharp & fun & over fast,
A few of us even talked about “If God Exists or not” topic.
Half agreed & Half didn’t.
I found the ratio quite surprising, for a town like this.
After the Pool Bar,The rest of the trip was just sleeping & waking to a semi officious voice:
“Are you living in your car”,
She said to me as I stood outside my car.
“No I live in the other town, I’m just up for a rest”, I said
“Oh ok we are filming a documentary on the housing crisis down here” – she said chirpilly.
“I don’t see it changing – unless they build totally new hermeticalluy sealed towns” I said.
“I think you’re right” she said.
I drove away & left the scene, realising how lucky I am these days.
For I begrudgingly must admit to myself,
I am now probably a ‘Have’ but was formerly a ‘Have Not’.
And I could now simply ‘drive out of it all’.
But the new age gold diggers & car sleepers here cannot do this –
& I ask ‘who will save them’?
It seems no one who is wedded to this earth is willing to.
because they are ok, & human nature is to be selfish –
& That, in a nutshell, is why suffering occurs in this world of bounty –
Millennia after millennia.
And maybe that problem is why, perhaps – I keep visiting.
A force compels me to ‘sneak away’ to the two-sided,
Spiritually Warfare’d,
Poorly Welfare’d
Ex Gold Mining,
‘Car Sleeping’
Escapist
Shiney
‘Bountified’
Two-Sided Town.
Anton Martin Smith Writer 