(12/8/2006)
I just met Dennis Hopper
At the Art Basel Miami Beach
And shook his hand.
Sinister Images of Frank
From Blue Velvet
Flashed,
The lunatic photographer
From Apocalypse Now
Worshipping Kurtz,
And most of all the
Easy Rider
Biker
Who changed my life.
I saw that at age 21 and it
Spun my head with dreams
Of escape
And open roads
And adventures
And of being wild
In my own way.
I was no hippie,
Or Harley dude,
But I loved the
Spirit of it all.
I told him my life
For better and certainly
For worse
Changed after seeing it.
The man who was in
Rebel without a Cause
With James Dean,
Just kind of blankly looked
At me and laughed
His trademark laugh.
No words spoken.
And then off we went.
Separate ways.
It probably meant nothing
To him
But I was fascinated
Thinking about how something
Can inspire you down a path
And then years later
Intersecting with the man
Behind it all.
It lasted twenty seconds
In all
But to me it almost seemed
Like some strange destiny.
Very cool, and fleeting,
I wish I could really
Hang with him
And discuss life.
Most things aren’t meant
To happen.
