Counting Coup on the Coops - A poem of the open road

To the brotherhood of the road
its still called by that name
even though few still use CB's,
you know when the coop is open
by the pile up of eightteen wheelers
at the Flying J's, Petro's and TA's.

For when the house of the scales
is open for its business
those overloaded are stopped
by the fines they can't pay.
Fines made by idiot hostlers
shippers and loaders, all on union pay.

Oh, you still hear the term
from the older guys, or young ones
lured to the road by old movies.
The cant of the seventies
and terms like smokey, pigpen
double nickel and Colorado Koolaid.

Sooner or later, one group or the other
will give ground in some way
either the deadline looming
or overtime banned by a governor
will let one side count its coup,
as the big rigs keep rollin' night and day.