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| A Dennis Hammon Photo: "Menan Buttes" |
"The Lariat: A Tribute"
We knew that night
after the last crack of the bat
echoed toward the Buttes
and after the 150-watt Sylvania lost
its shimmer we would trudge over
to the Lariat for a chunk of apple pie
made fresh that day
and an Orange Crush over ice.
We knew the pinball machine
would chatter and ding
and then whimper for more dimes;
that the table hockey puck
would sizzle and clack
as it banged against the sides
and then the pleasing clanging
into the hole for a point;
that the ancient juke box
would struggle through
“Wishing you were here”
or “Takin’ care of business”;
that we would finally pull up
wooden chairs, stools,
around the graffitied tables,
while sipping Orange Crush,
gobbling our pie a la mode,
reminiscing, talking all at once
about the awesome play
at second base, the homerun
in the fifth with two on,
Big Dave’s “plumbing” disaster
early one morning last winter
at the Church before BB practice,
the Saturday night dances
and all the trappings of teenagers—
all punctuated by the periodic zaps
of the formidable bug killing machine
this moment indelibly etched in our minds.
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