I Saw Elvis
I’ve enjoyed writing for many years. I'm dedicating more time to it in retirement.
I Saw Elvis
I can corroborate
Substantiate
Validate
Your opinion
It’s not that hard
Do you want to be right?
Ok, you’re right
Hit search on Google
Ask and you will find
Others of a mind
In droves
And spades
And numbers very large
Tremendously large
That I can tell you
You don’t have to travel a yard
Or a foot
I am here for you
With you
I believe what you do
Can validate what you think
In a blink
Here’s a link
To the media outlet
That you get
That gets you
And only you
And the many others
Who think like you
Want to be like you
And you like them
Again and again
And you think it’s droll
When they call you a troll
You smirk
Call them a jerk
And worse
Much worse
Then smile
All the while
Ain’t it great
To exacerbate
And spread that hate
And discontent
Spew some vitriol
It’s the be all end all
The beckon call
You answer
Like a wooden dancer
On strings
Being pulled from above
Don’t you just love
Not having a mind of your own?
If it’s valid and grounded
In logic and evidence
If it’s crazy, unfounded
Doesn’t make any sense
I can do either
And make a believer
Out of those
Who don't
And those who do
Already believe
Never leave
My side
To go look
With your own eyes
They’ll tell you lies
And the truth lives here
With me
In the past 20 years
I’ve changed my thinking
I used to want
You to decide
While I reported
Nothing distorted
Lies all thwarted
Today there’s a different tide
I both report and decide
Much easier to hide
The truth that way
When I say
What I want you to hear
Then you learn to hear
What I want you want to hear
And then only hear what you want to hear
A now-trained ear
That won’t listen
To reality
Or logic
And evidence
Other views
They’re all fake news
But here’s something that’s true
I saw Elvis
He was pumping gas
And working the register
At a Conoco in Garden City
What a pity
He’s in Kansas
And not in Memphis
Gracing Graceland
With his presence
Makes no sense
With a talent like that
And he didn’t wanna chat
Or sign my matchbook cover
And I couldn’t get him to join me
When I sang with the unleaded nozzle
For a microphone
Made “Suspicion Minds” my own
Suspicious Minds
But he did smile
For a while
When I told him
On a whim
How I wanted to be him
Tall, handsome and slim
In a suit
On the stage
Building a sweat
With Ann Margaret
In Viva
What a diva
Before they invented that word
We’ve all now heard
And he said
That’s not absurd
She was really hot
Viva Las Vegas
And her high temperature had class
And sass
And romance
I remember a dance
In high school
Where we played his songs
Sang along
Moved slowly
Or not at all
Back against the wall
Hour long kisses
Blissful blisses
And grinds
With our young minds
On one thing
Wearing my class ring
On a chain around her neck
What the heck
Were we thinking
Went drinking
In our polyester suits
What a hoot
On the backroads
Loads and loads
Of innocent fun
Wild and on the run
And then Elvis died
And my mama cried
And so did I
For a really long time
But I never told
I thought I was too old
A real manly man
So glad I saw him in Garden City
At the Conoco
You know
That’s still true
But I didn’t do
What I could have done
And told everyone
I kept it a secret
Back in the day
When it was easier to do it that way
Now everything you say
Ends up on Facebook
While the whole world looks
And the rumor cooks
And marinates
And turns to hate
Ain’t it great
You can corroborate
Substantiate
Validate
Any opinion
And it’s easy, you see
With an ISP
And a computer
Or a tablet
Or a phone
And you’re on your own
At home
All alone
Or you’re with everyone
And you’re also everywhere
And you don’t have to care
About people’s feelings
Send them reeling
With a written rock
A throwing stone
Or a well-aimed arrow
Let it go
Just nock it
And rock it
Hear the fletching whistle
Then stop
With a plop
As the figurative arrowhead
Impales your best friend
In the heart
And (s)he starts
To have moisture well
In one eye
And then in both
While the most
You can do
Is nock another
And say oh brother
Wear diapers much
And then lose touch
With reality
Life’s not TV
Or the internet
Not yet
But I am
And I can help you be
Who you want to be
If that’s who you want to be
I can help you think
Here, take a drink
Wink wink
Did I ever tell you
About the time
I saw Elvis?
In the Ghetto
© 2020 greg cain
Comments
greg cain (author) from Idaho, USA on October 20, 2020:
Thanks, Liz! I'm glad you enjoyed it. When I started this poem, it was going to be called "I Am the Internet." As it was coming out onto the page, though, it suddenly changed to something more than that. Ia am happy with how it came together, but I may have to revisit my original theme one day in future.
Liz Westwood from UK on October 19, 2020:
Your poetry has a momentum that carries the reader along through the thought processes. I appreciated the digs at fake news and the cleverly woven in Elvis story.
greg cain (author) from Idaho, USA on October 19, 2020:
Sha Sha - I have for years told people, mostly people in my family, that I saw Elvis in the late 80s and early 90s working at a Conoco in Garden City, Kansas. In those years, I traveled between South Dakota and Texas on numerous occasions to attend B-1 training of some sort or another, or to actually move from one place to the other. Anyway, I spent lots of time driving US Highway 83 from north to south and south to north during that timeframe. Garden City was one regular stop along the way on that road, and there was this Conoco there...
I also did an impromptu visit to Graceland once with my bride. I might write a story about that someday...
greg cain (author) from Idaho, USA on October 19, 2020:
Bill - I couldn’t agree more, my man. She was a one of a kind. I’ll be looking for your upcoming article, too, which I’m certain will be awesome!
greg cain (author) from Idaho, USA on October 19, 2020:
John - closest I ever got was when Elvis did a concert at the grand opening of the Rapid City Civic Center in 1977. I didn’t go, of course, and my mom didn’t either, but I only lived a few miles down the road! How’s that for close? I always wished my mom would have gone. He died later that same year.
greg cain (author) from Idaho, USA on October 19, 2020:
Thanks Flourish!
Shauna L Bowling from Central Florida on October 19, 2020:
Whew! What a roller coaster ride, Box! Your mind never ceases to amaze me. You're all over the place but always circle back around and make sense of it all.
Did you really see Elvis pumping gas?
greg cain (author) from Idaho, USA on October 19, 2020:
Hertha - thanks for the kind words. I wish I'd really met Elvis myself but, alas, it was never meant to be. Years ago, I started telling my wife and son about the time I met Elvis in a Conoco in Garden City, Kansas. The rumor never caught on, though, because my own wife and son didn't even believe me...anyway, thanks for reading and commenting, Hertha. Good day.
Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on October 19, 2020:
So very clever!
Ann Margaret was hot!!!! Smokin' hot!
I have an article coming out later this week on this topic. Great minds do think alike, me thinks!
Loved it...have a great weekend of truths, my friend. It's up to you, of course.
John Hansen from Queensland Australia on October 19, 2020:
I was always a huge Elvis fan and wanted to be like him (in his movies anyway.) As Flourish said, this was very creative and an enjoyable read. Oh, Greg, did you meet Elvis by any chance?
FlourishAnyway from USA on October 18, 2020:
Long but worth the read. Very creative.
Hertha David from Windhoek, Namibia on October 18, 2020:
Yes you did tell me about the time you saw Elvis :) wink wink..
Honestly I love this article I read and understand every line. I wish I met Elvis too.
Great article.