HIWAY 2 BLUES

US 2 EAST-WEST

The HiLine

heading for the Dakotas

Hiway 2. The lowest number.

Highway with the lowest number.

Any lower would be zero.

Jim Bodeen

14 October 2014

Sundance Camp

MIDNIGHT EARLY IN THE MOTHERSHIP

Trains whistling all night

on the HiLine, Hiway 2

out of Sand Point

out of Bonner’s Ferry

take the road as it comes

Mark Knoppler sings

be ready for the day

Karen Bodeen says

navigate the song

and slow for Larch Pine

Jim Bodeen
14 October 2015

HIWAY 2 BLUES

Highway’s yellow lines

take on fall colors

October loneliness

Jim Bodeen

13 October 2015

ROBERT’S MONOLOGUE

FROM SANDPOINT, IDAHO RV PARK

Good morning, neighbor, nice rig,

my name’s Robert. We were living

on Three Sisters Mountain

but it didn’t work out.

Linda, she’s the manager,

gave us this rent-to-own

but I gotta get us some propane.

What do you say you do?

I’m a poet

I got a little Polack

in me too. This rig’s

all right but needs work

and I can’t haul it

with this Honda

I need a pickup,

it’s got a pop out

I can fix that.

We came up here

from Shit Cali

to look for my Dad

I never seen him.

Shoulda known

I wasn’t going to find

the father of the year

I got a little boy

He’s two.

He’s a little shit.

My grandma bought land

on Three Sisters Mountain

when you didn’t need

an arm and a leg to get it

and my dad’s living on it now

and he didn’t want us there..

I can do anything.

I like my tools

I rebuilt roller coasters

for Six Flags in Valejo, Cali.

I didn’t know anything

from anything when I got here.

Worked with a guy named Grub

could fix anything.

Grub showed me how

to rebuild cranes,

sandblast propane tanks

and paint him. I like fabbin’

that’s building cranes

from steel, VDD,

variable disc drive.

Electrical comes with cranes.

Dry wall’s easy money.

Jim Bodeen

Sand Point, Idaho

13 October 2015