George’s Boys, 1960
The leather jacket boys hung out at George’s Texaco and could put away
a six-pack of Iron City, Duke or Schlitz in record time, but Rolling Rock,
on the other hand, was considered a queer beer that was lifted or purchased
as a last resort when a Saturday night binge involved Candy or Franny
and the profane prayer of a little girly action in the ravine down by the tracks
where mile long box cars crawled through every Tuesday and Friday on their
way west laden with smoldering virgin steel from the 48-inch rolling mill that
supplied George’s boys with enough pocket money and rubbers, when they
remembered, to kindle sly and secret grins with the knowledge that the army
or the Federal pen would never cage them
Laurence Carr
Laurence Carr lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. His book of poems and short essays is Strides: reflections on 6 acres, with images by artist Edward M. O’Hara. Other books include Paradise Loft (CAPS Press and Lightwoodpress); Traverse, a collaboration with artist Power Boothe. Pancake Hollow Primer, winner of the Next Generation Indie Book Award for first novel. This and two poetry collections, Threnodies: poems in remembrance and The Wytheport Tales, are published by Codhill Press. As anthology editor at Codhill, he edited or co-edited five anthologies, including A Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley (Winner of the USA Best Book Award for Fiction Anthology). Laurence is currently the publisher of Lightwood, an online arts and culture magazine. www.carrwriter.com and Lightwoodpress.com
