WAITING FOR STEVE McQUEEN
Terrence Steven, for just a glimpse we waited till dawn!
We still wonder where you had gone.
In that Anchorage bar,
We talked about you as America's 'cool' star.
From Small Beech Grove,
America's fascination you drove.
From the Blob,
To America's heart throb.
With that green Bullitt machine,
You totally ruled the movie screen!
From heroic young marine,
To a life far from routine.
After eighteen months at Chino,
You graduated to and adult life out of Tarantino!
Tanned, rugged, and mystical!
From Hollywood to Sebring and Le Mans Raceways,
You always had America in a craze!
Be it movies, motorcycles, racing cars, airplanes, or martial arts;
You always challenged American hearts.
©Copyright 2004 by Mark H. Wilson
Author’s Note: The poem is based on an actual incident. Military Fans were waiting one summer's night in Anchorage, Alaska for a brief glimpse of Steve McQueen. Unbeknownst to the fans, Steve McQueen had tried some unauthorized street racing and was in custody of the Anchorage Police Department!
Many fans of Terrence Steve McQueen were not only unfamiliar with his real name, but that he had actually served as a United States Marine in the late 1940s. During his 'colorful' enlistment, his unique service included three weeks in solitary confinement for 'stretching' a weekend pass into two weeks, to personally saving the lives of five other Marines from drowning in frigid Arctic waters. For this heroic act he was rewarded with guard duty on President Harry Truman's Presidential Yacht.
Just imagine "Give 'em hell" President Harry Truman out for a weekend on the Presidential Yacht with Steve McQueen 'at the wheel'. None of McQueen's later movies could possibly have been that exciting - or would have had as much 'colorful' language!