A Visit to My Drive-In

On By Jerry BrothertonIn Free Verse, Poetry

I knew you well so many years ago

You were full of passion

A cathedral where multitudes

Of lusting souls gathered

I watched intently at the images

You allowed me to see

Oh, such a majestic creature

Towering high into the darkened sky

You gathered the light from a million stars

To power my imagination

A haven for teenage love

Your warm summer breezes caressed my heart

You showed me laughter, joy, love and sadness

I was your legacy, and I worshipped you

But time faded my memories

Progress devoured your simplicity

I lost youthful desires, hopes, and dreams

Replaced them with responsibilities, anxiety and conformity

I left you to die a lonely death

Discarded like an animal’s carcass on the side of the road

Rotting in the rain and sun

Slabs of your silver skin have long decayed

Fallen to the ground to reveal the bones beneath

Tree limbs from the encroaching woods

Stick their boney fingers through the gouges

Like demons trying to pull free

From their eternal darkness

Nature is reclaiming you…

And there is no one left to care

18 thoughts on “A Visit to My Drive-In”

  3. Well, you and others do care. You also wrote a beutiful poem to its memory.
    The young often now meet up, go to the cheapest cafe, get chips or such and
    I have heard the laughter and fun spilling around town.
    Today’s diners.?
    miriam

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  4. Felicia Denise's avatar Felicia Denise

    Powerful! Enjoyed it and reminded me how much I miss drive-ins.

    We made the fifty-mile round trip drive every weekend in SoCal when the kids were young. If we missed a week – which was rare – everything else just seemed ‘off.’

    Sometimes I think I want drive-ins to come back, but people aren’t the same as back then. It was rare to have trouble at the drive-in, but these days, it would probably be an every week occurrence.

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    1. Maybe that’s the problem these days. If drive-ins made a comeback then people might be forced to interact with something other than the 24 hour a day ‘Trump Show’. Kind of like a haven where people would be isolated from the world’s problems. Of course I am just dreaming.

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      1. I don’t know either. Something to think about. It’s sad that so many families today are sitting, as individuals, staring at little monitors and screens…instead of interacting together…at drive-in movies, picnics, porch sitting, baseball, gardening, etc.

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  6. s4pmd's avatar Davy D

    A great reflective piece Jerry. This is not something that was part of the culture over here in the UK. I used to see the drive-ins on the movies and shows and they always had a magical appeal. We now have McDonalds Drive ins, maybe movies next.

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