The Narrow Light Of Truth

The hierarchy of dispensation
roves through the ages,
fresh fruit for one, bone meal for
the other, rank versus imperfection,
one sun shines for a few but injustice for all, 
brutes placing themselves above God,
and the gulf of restraint that lies between
the helpless and powerful, human bondage
raves through the Scientific Age still, where
are the modern-day heroes? Where's Zumbi 
dos Palmares? Where's Spartacus? Where's 
Harriet Tubman? Where's Frederick Douglas?
Where's Enrique of Malacca? Where's James 
Somersett? Where's Nat Turner? Where's Ammar
ibn Yasir? Where's Abram Petrovich Gannibal?
Where's Margret Garner? Where's St. Patrick?
Where's Aesop? Where's Moses? Where are they?
Gone from the torn pages of history, we need
our heroes, we need freedom for all, and laws for 
all and not the privileged and sated few who follow
no rule of law, we have traveled nowhere and have 
died in our oppressor's chains-ENOUGH. 

- John Hardesty   
   

No Trace

There's no trace of yesterday,
 just an empty vestige of youth-
upon these hollow halls, I once walked
down in fear, an echo resounds in
recalling your name, subtle lips whispered
with timidity, faint breath sighs, now all 
is lost; there's no trace upon the vacant beach
where you once bathed in the salty air with 
your strawberry wine cooler; there's no trace
of laughter from your noxious and lovely mouth;
there's no trace of the driftway toward your house,
weeds assemble in an erratic line, fence rows currently
are cluttered with sprigs of uncut grass and bramble;
there's no trace of your wisdom, just your letters, poems,
and notes I saved; there's no trace of your kindness you 
enraptured upon your always welcomed guests; there's no
trace of your ardent indulgence in handicapping horseracing; 
there's no trace of your witty rapport and your blistered 
anecdotal scathing; there's no trace of the moonlight you 
shamed and sullied with love; there's no trace of life where
you once walked; there's no trace of the sunburst that gleamed
from your presence; there's no trace of me and you anymore,
only your marked grave separates the invariable and constant
loneliness. 

- John Hardesty  

Gossip

Hearsay is an archway
To dogmatic heresy, 
Its mainstay is to defray
And cast away the wordplay, 
Amongst the superhighway
From every rowan, Olivia and Fannie Mae
That purveys the dossier
Of canards and empty spillways;
The causeways run through the alleyways
And conveyed through the mocking jays
And each predatory flyway bird of prey
That assembles within the grey segue giveaway
Upon every parkway and highway;
For loose prattle is the mainstay
Of deceit and double play,
Truth becomes a lie through the midway
That travels faster than the light of day, 
Remember always, the gateway to horseplay
Is the doorway to hearsay. 

- John Hardesty 

The Last Duke Of Kentucky(pg. 9)

     I pulled in at Joe's and there was my car sitting alone in the parking lot, I nudged up to my car and got out and left them asleep in the car, thinking the sun will reawake them in no time. 
I headed to Louisville and made my appointment in the nick of time, and reminisced about last night and thinking how wild it was and hoped they all made it home okay, that boy was a mess and he needed help but I thought too he wouldn't take any advice because of his arrogance toward life and he had this entitlement of being privileged because he did some time in a prison cell that qualified himself to some welcoming mat or a silver platter to everything under the sun. He would soon find out life doesn't work that way.
     I headed back to college and a few years went by so quickly, time marches onward to its own beat and slows down for no one, and though I didn't find contentment in the Louisville nightlife, I always headed back to Bardstown for my indulgence of shenanigans, Louisville was just too big for a small town boy like me. I always felt the gals down there in that small town of Bardstown was more genuine, sincere and far better looking. 
     I was at my mother's place when I got the news, the grave news, that Joey made his last jump down by the roller rink, that jump that I said would be his very last, and he had a passenger that miraculously survived but poor Joey wasn't superman enough to lift off a two-ton old car off his head under a twenty foot bluff with a bed of limestone beneath him, it crushed him like a grape, stupidity takes no requiems and life isn't a joyride after all, you may think you're bigger than this life, and she'll let you know in an instant that she holds your life with a silver thread, and the slightest mistake could be your last. Joey was buried, and soon forgotten, but he needed his story told because undoubtedly he was the last Duke of Kentucky. 


                                                             THE END  

The Last Duke Of Kentucky(pg. 8)

     We pulled in the parking lot at Del-Mar's Hotel on a thin prayer and three wheels, I got out the car and ordered 2 rooms adjoining each other because I had to be up early the next day, I always rose early from bed regardless how hungover from booze or love.  
     "Now Joey, I have to be up at 8:00 in the morning and be on the road, so let's move it okay tomorrow morning," I said with conviction. 
     "No problem dude," he said while grabbing one of those gals and headed toward the room, I still had the prettiest I thought, but both gals were gorgeous. 
     I made love to this lovely gal for about three hours, I had no idea what came over me but I guess it had to do with what was under me. She moaned out loud enough where the whole town could hear, guess I was a king for another night in a small town. Time capsules of memory are what keeps us alive for another day, looking back on this night was an extraordinary memory of that eventful day and night, but nothing stays forever but these reminiscent fleeting leaflets of precious moments. 
     The morning sun never forgets to rise in the east and my internal clock always rises with it, I snuck out of bed and took a quick shower, and grabbed a newspaper and read the news while they slept for another hour, I was ready, yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery and today's a gift. The hour of that morning was so quiet and peaceful, the evening vampires were headed to their beds and the commuters to work. 
     I opened the adjacent door and turned on the lights and hollered, "up and Adam, let's go!" 
     "Man, let me sleep for another hour," Joey weakly screamed out. 
     "Where're your keys?" I said, not messing around anymore, I told him in advanced last night. We got to the hotel at 9:00, he had plenty of time to sleep and screw, now I was headed to my car regardless if he came or not. 
     "Damn dude, it's 8:00 in the morning!" 
     "What did I tell you last night?" I said as I thumbed around his pants pockets and found the keys.
     "I'm gone in ten minutes, if you are not in the car, I'm gone!" 
     I headed out to the car, and it smelled of whiskey and stink, but started up this old pile of junk, and waited for them but only for ten minutes. I had no time this morning because I made this abundantly clear last night. I sat there five minutes, and out they came, they both looked a mess and disoriented but I had to be in Louisville at 10:00.
     "Damn dude, you could've at least let us taken a shower," Joey muttered out.
     "You said no problem last night, now you're bitching, once I get to my car at Joe's you and your gals can head back to the hotel and sleep until they throw you out at noon I don't care," I said in retaliation.

                                                                     8

The Last Duke Of Kentucky(pg. 7)

     "Damn, this clunker weighs a ton, and this ain't the Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee or the Batmobile, you'll never make it!" I said directly to this idiot who thought he was Evel Knievel all of the sudden, and I looked back the gals chuckled with me, " And if you're going to try it, let me and these gals out of harm's way!" 

     We all laughed at this insanity but somehow in the back of my mind this boy wasn't all there because he truly thought he could make this seemingly difficult jump, in reality, jumps of this magnitude are methodically thought through that required special ramps and most cars like General Lee had special weights or tonnage in the trunk to keep the tail-end from nosing over and not mentioning the special tires. In the show Dukes of Hazzard, after each long jump General Lee made, most of the Dodges were retired to scrapyard due to structural damages.

     "Ok man, I was just joking," Joey said, as I made a breathing sigh thanking God.

     I knew though this boy truly thought he could make this jump without any prior experience, he had that determination on his face, you can't hide stupidity and ignorance, it's written all over their faces, for a time soon expires for the greenhorns and brass idiots.

     "Hand that bottle to me," I said as I took a swig and it burned like gasoline down my throat.

     "We're out of gas almost," Joey said, he truly was a bum, why I found anything in this boy is a complete joke.

     "Hey, give me a drink, ya think I'm a fish?" Blurted out one of the sweeties in the rear seat, with her legs spread all over the back seat.

     "Here ya go honey," as I handed her that half-emptied bottle.

     We left town and we stopped at this little country store to fill up with gas, twenty bucks back then got yourself plenty of fuel. I bought a case of beer also and had plans to take these gals to some hotel afterward and they seem compliant too. We rode around for about 3 hours on the backroads in these majestic hills of Kentucky, but Joey was getting hammered, and I sure didn't want to go to jail, so we headed to Springfield where hotel rooms were very affordable since it was such a small town on the outskirts of nowhere people rarely stayed there, but that twenty mile trip saved myself twenty bucks in room fare. 

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