Route 28
From Chatham
On Cape Cod
To Manchester
New Hampshire.
The four-laner contracted to two
Through the Blue Hills
South of Boston___
Wider again after the lights
After Chicktawbut Road
Passing my neighborhood
A fruit stand sold pumpkins
On Halloween___
That evening
Hundreds lay unprotected
No lights
Our gang of boys and girls
Sleathily in the dark
Plundered them.
Not for smashing
But for bowling down Edgewater Road
Into the traffic
On Route 28___
Harmless fun
Around the neighborhood
The young trick or treated
Once they went home
Only three of us up for it.
Chickie Lally, Karl Koni, and me__
Two pumpkins in our arms
The lights on 28 changed
We three rolled the pumpkins
Down the road
To where
The pumpkins and traffic met
Horns, tires squealing, the thump of pumpkins under tires___
We ran into the night.
Laughing
Behind the fruit stand.
Laughing
Not haha
Laughing
Laughter
Our mothers
Didn’t know___
Laughing
Because our fathers
Didn’t know__
Our lesson
Pumpkins and cars don’t mix.
Not even on Halloween___
ps I never really like the Smashing Pumpkins___Nirvana was the only grunge band for me