From the unpublished, posthumous manuscript:

ONCE (1973)

PINEY POOBAH

POEM 1

ONCE

Once I knew a man named Bobby
Once I had a friend called Chuck
Once I had a truk named the lazys.o.b
Once I had a time called luck
Once I was a handsome feller
Once I had a mouth full a teeth
Once I had more hair on the top of my head
Once I could a whistled in the breeze
Once I knew how to keep my pants up
Once I had a girl called Pete
Once I had a dollar I could call my own
Once I had a room with heat

POEM 1: IF

POEM 2: WHO

POEM 4: WHEN

POEM 5: WHY

POEM 6: HOW

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In 1973, a poor road poet from Altus, Oklahoma, by the name of Piney Poobah, froze to death in his 1939 Ford pickup, which was parked out back of the Wagon Wheel 'honky tonk' Saloon; a sorry establishment located in the stockyards of Fort Worth, Texas.
These are some of the "rode poms " he left behind. Piney liked to write "poms" while he walked, and keep their rythm in his head as he traveled the lonely back roads that stretch throughout Texas and Oklahoma.
Originally written with a #2 yellow lead pencil on the the back of a brown paper bag, they are published in their original spelling and format.