got to school early
started looking for my buddy French
the smoking area? empty
only Cliff...there as usual
selling loose American cigarettes
from a zip lock bag
he hadn't seen him
he wasn't in math
one of his best girl friends
said he might be ditching
so I ditched too
I found him at home
out by the shed
sitting on a discarded kitchen chair
he'd found last garbage day
nursing a tumbler of Canadian Club
his cassette player was on
a low hum of Pink Floyd the Wall
filled the air
mingling with cigarette smoke
he looked up from his book
a beautiful hardcover edition:
Catcher in the Rye
French poured me a glass of whisky
passed me his beat up school copy
the white cover torn and battered
he handed me a smoke
lit it and said:
"this fuckin' Salinger guy...
man...he knows what's up."
HA!!! I remember this book . We studied it in the final year of High School. I went to a Convent and taught by nuns. The nun who taught our English class was very avant garde. We were lucky !
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ReplyDeleteHelen again!! Too many typos ... embarrassing. This poem/story captivated me .. took me way way back to high school. The guy who tried to tempt me was named Dutch. I don't even remember his real name. Played a mean sax in our high school band, I played flute. Anything Elvis rocked our boats. Good girl, no liquor .. one puff on a cig and thought I would die. Never again. Really great writing.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone at the time, I loved it very much when it first came out. I have re-read it fondly several times. If I no longer think Holden is quite the coolest and wisest, as he seemed originally – still, it's kinda like the way one loves a favourite old cardigan.
ReplyDeleteJumping inside the mind and angst of the young never gets old. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is really good. I remember reading Catcher in The Rye. I think I read it all in one sitting, totally transfixed. I am sure all teenagers think the book was written just for "me." I wish in this moment I had the book in front of me and a glass of Canadian Club, a cassette player turning out those tunes.
ReplyDeleteRead this about a year or less ago. I think adult eyes read it a little differently than younger. I like the memory you shared.
ReplyDeleteOMG....that is one book I could reread!! Love this description of your buddy. I concur, best read with a tumbler of something and Pink Floyd in the background.
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