Lawrence Bridges has been a stunt driver, cab driver, and an assistant director to Francis Ford Coppola

THE PHOTO

by Lawrence Bridges

That photo looks just like me
on the cusp of a breakthrough.
How many times have I fallen in,
head, arm, and legs up like an electric plug
with five poles reaching through the lightning
and rain to ignite a story?
But not today. The theater is dark
and I doff my Jimmy Stewart hat
and stroll a lanky block
adding up the prices of all the cars.
Jeepers, it costs a lot to be an American.
The cars are all plugged in and charging.
I'll mosey back to my farmhouse
with its screened-in porch and rocking chair,
rent paid up for a year. I'll gather eggs
and chop some wood for winter
here where summer hasn't even started.

Lawrence Bridges' poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, and The Tampa Review. He has published three volumes of poetry: Horses on Drums (Red Hen Press, 2006), Flip Days (Red Hen Press, 2009), and Brownwood (Tupelo Press, 2016).

Instagram:@larrybridges