Our Woodstock Weekend, August 1969

we loaded up the Buick
’58 Riviera resprayed
psychedelic, rusting over
150k on the clock

five squashed into the rear
like Ligo sardines in a can
three spread out up front
excited, exhilarated

onto the Thruway on Friday
heading north from the Bronx
listen to rock on the radio
waved arms in the air

just like dudes in L.A. we’d
yellow flowers in our hair
still wet from the shower
cut long for the trip

clothed in chic apparel
yellow, orange, azure blue
just a shade too tight from
Sears Roebuck, the catalog

trying to look real cool
en route to Bethel, New York
unprepared for the zeitgeist
unprepared for the rain

Our Woodstock Weekend, August 1969

but caught up in traffic
for mile upon mile
didn’t make Max Yasgur’s
didn’t get up to Woodstock

hung out off a dirt road
drunk a few warm Coors
woke up with a headache
and liquor stained smocks

got home Saturday noon
(parents were relieved)
next semester starts soon
can’t bunk off grad school

we unloaded the Buick
’58 Riviera resprayed
psychedelic, rusting like
wilted flowers in our hair

Woodstock was a music festival and art fair held between 15-18 August 1969 on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York State attended by an estimated audience of almost half a million at the peak.