Poetry: Get Your Kicks On Route 66 By Jonathan Hayes

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

 

I attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona off of Route 66.
 
The dormitory was filled with slackers, Indians, Christians, and Mormon girls 
who all had a copy of The Book of Mormon on a desk in their dorm room.
 
My first semester was also my last semester, as I failed most classes, didn’t go to
some classes, but of course I did manage to get a B in my freshman English class.
 
The slackers took me to the saloon and taught me how to play 9-ball pool; 
the Indians invited me to take peyote with them; my Christian roommate had 
GOD IS GREAT taped to the wall above our beds.   
 
But it was the Mormon girls who taught me the most, for they were quite easy to get 
into bed — most of the time they would initiate the sex, even beg for it, yet they also
had a reminder that they would show me under their bed: 
 
“The pistol is real and so was Joseph Smith.”

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Hayes lives in Oakland, California with his wife and their cat.