After a resident reported an elderly man “wandering around” a “predominantly minority community” on the New Jersey shore, two officers stopped him. Asked what he was doing, he replied that he was “looking at houses to pass some time [before] the show,” adding that he was “on tour.” Asked his name, he said “Bob Dylan,” which meant nothing to the two young officers. He did not have ID. Personnel on a huge bus parked by a local hotel confirmed his story.
We are all on tour, in a way,
and in another way too.
Same goes for the road, or the path.
You can push analogies
until they break. (Analogies
are people too.)
Is that a metaphor? Are we on yet?
Which is not to say
a double negative
cannot undo a knot.
A rushed sound check can undermine the show.
I was almost run over today
by a guy who looked
like my brother.
Something tells me he’s on tour himself.
Copyright ©klipschutz
klipschutz.com
ABOUT THE POEM
Klipschutz’s previously unpublished poem “On Tour” should spark the reader’s thoughts about the elusive Dylan, being in a hurry (too busy or too stoned?), and whether we are all on a tour before a greater permanence.
There are other interesting tales of Dylan in the wild – in 2001 he struggled to gain access to his own concert and there was also allegedly a case of mistaken identity with Dave the plumber in London.
ABOUT THE POET
klipschutz is the pen name of poet Kurt Lipschutz, author of, most recently, Mr. Congeniality (2021). He has also co-written a hundred songs released by Chuck Prophet – who is currently on tour himself with ¿Qiensave? in support of his 2024 album Wake the Dead – dates here.
Poetic Justice 
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