oh boy
it’s worth repeating
that i had a winchester
repeating rifle
a cowboy suit
a davy crockett hat
an overriding dream
but
like the cowboys and indians
they are all gone now
riding off across a prairie
wrinkled by the winds of time
into the fire of my last sunset
sowing corn
even a complete poem
is but a fragment of a life
past present and future are but
dots in a corpus of thought
dots that time subscripts
to exclamation and question
marks
at why the final stanza is
but the title of the book of life
penned by pecking hens
looking for a worm of truth
the eternal maternal carousel
mother and child ambivalence
seated on two concentric carousels
spinning their undulations in different directions
driven by the man with the power lever
you pays your money
you takes your ride
are not the horses golden
the neon and everlasting smile
spilling popcorn everywhere
as we kiss at each parting
the state of counsel
the fallen and falling leaves
are talking not to the stones
other than in your mind
the stones give no advice
other than your counsel
to those around you
that to fall is to bounce
along the winds of change
that are nothing but
the heart returning
an imponderable slight
of an autumn thought
smashed
now we’ve forgotten
why we were so angry
and it doesn’t make us angry
but sad you might say
it hits you hard in the face
all the rage they use to be
these metal studs
worn by us studs
the new boys on the block
another pint?
better not
it’s getting late
in the day
those were
dearth here isn’t thy string
death circles
you
look over your shoulder
no the other one
or if you turn
it is behind you
and in front of you
inside you it has a warm smile
that causes a shiver
pauses a thought
what if
just one more
what if
surely
if i sit here a moment
death will pass me by
just a short snooze
… oooooooze
the big ship
we sang each other
in the school yard
who started the song
the year above i guess
who understood the words
the other singers i guess
the ones who wrote it
beyond memory
we sang it
in their memory
because who knows
what would happen
if we forgot the words
of the ending
ending who
the ending ending who
