If Kerouac had lived he would have
bored and disappointed the fire
eaters who expected him to burn
and explode again and again to our wow.
To be the crazy poet angel means no thought
beyond the moment and this age of healthy
obsessivness, zero tolerance and glorified
dullness cannot digest that kind of blood.
Thank God no rehabilitation saved him,
no government imposed pennance on his time'
nor could the hands of hipness unwrap
the blue, white and red blazing flag from his heart.