‘An Eye for the Box Scores’, ‘The Biggest Tip’ & ‘Finer than frog hair split three ways’

Photographer - Tobi Brun

An Eye for the Box Scores

Two sausage biscuits ago,
the coffee on the dash
was hot. He’s read

the paper twice since six,
waiting in the fog for planes
that never arrived.

I’m his first for the day,
a shorter run than he’d like
only to get back in line again.

He’s dropping me home
wishing he was home.
He’d park the cab, close

the blinds and sleep.
He rolls back out
my driveway and stares down

at the box scores.
He’s seeing and not
seeing them again.

The Biggest Tip

The tourists
wouldn’t let it go,

wanted to talk
about it all the way

to the Opryland Hotel:
the glitz, the dirt

and the glamor.
“Who is the most

famous person,
the biggest celebrity,

the most memorable rider
you’ve had in your cab?”

Exiting the Briley Parkway,
He finally told them,

“When you leave a $1000
tip today on top

of the $47 fare,
I can promise you,

you’ll be the ones
I’ll never forget.

“Finer than frog hair split three ways”

I know that I’m color-starved.

I can tell in the cool of late night
when I drift out onto the porch. The stars

shine down but I want a wild red sky
or dark green or baby blue.
There are better things in life

but not in mine. I lay awake
in the early hours before milking

and dream of your blond hair
on someone else’s pillow.

John Peter Beck recently retired from the labor education program at Michigan State University where he still co-directs a program that focuses on labor history and the culture of the workplace, Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives. His poetry has been published in a number of journals including The Seattle Review, Another Chicago Magazine, The Louisville Review and Passages North among others.