Run the River

I’m me when I’m watching horses run the river. Medicine for when you’re blue or when you’re red. A man is a man full of promise, it’s just too far to run home. I went to country dances growing up—I painted my life. Anytime anything bad happened, someone in the community would tell me what to pray for. I was left to wonder: what does God pray for? Three girls swim in the morning, but I don’t care anymore. Haven’t taken any of them to bed yet or breathed the same air. I think someone else should talk, like the resurrection of Christ. Like when he died for our sins. They just kind of let him go, they just kind of let him wash out.

No Good Reason

Vertical, holding a photograph. The one you took horizontal on the beach. I hope you still take tropical photos in black & white. I like that kind of love. On earth we sink & know we will. I think you’ll find higher purpose. Just keep standing proud & remember where the rocks are. We were kids with salt in our wounds. Staring into the sun. Now I tell it like it is & drive off. I stop at scenic overlooks & face the other way. Tonight I’m overlooking fireworks from the hood of my car. Their actions arrest me. Those brief life sentences. They blow up & it’s beautiful. 

Life Sentences

I’m finding new ways of being looked at. Losing some radiance. Saying hello & goodbye. Friends die, so I go to the river & paint flags. I get riled up & play brave. I wait for summer & the bugs to bite. Maybe it’s my imagination, but Laura walked into the water. The wind in the trees is borderline mythical. We used to watch caribou come up close & walk across the open water. Swear to God they were half angel. Without popping pills they could outrun a wolf. But look like junkies now, dead on the side of the road. I turn see-through when viewing horror. Woke up a highway song, a photo out of focus. Since it's the weekend, I say fire the generals. Ride on ahead brothers in red. The guys downtown want to see a rematch, so I tell the whole world about the shadows under the bridge. Painting over the paint. Almost in a trance. I just happen to have a presence, to fight the way I do. When you're crazy you have to talk to yourself. So I drink a glass of black powder & sit in the yard for a while. Life was psychedelic, but it’s no longer psychedelic. I’m leaving earth right now, trying to be relevant. I close my eyes & see a butterfly.

All Public Housing Looks the Same 

The apartment next to mine is being repainted because the guy broke his brain. It was his personal battle with the lord & I guess he lost. I read about it in the paper a few weeks after it happened. The party was over. Sometimes my cat forgets her tongue is out. Meows like an alcoholic through the south facing window toward a few strays. They’re flamboyant & homeless & she might be in love with one of them. We’re in the courtyard of Tennessee, where they divide a country into cold brown, tracing a way through the weeds, still feeling tipsy after all these years. Last night I quit rapping & turned a coyote color, which pivoted into Olympic blaze. I saw my classic will on full display, that’s slang for where I come from. Beer is cheaper at the gas station. This isn’t my first renaissance. Big fella walks everywhere. He’s our local legend. I’ve never seen him stop walking & I’ve never seen him go inside. He’s flamboyant & homeless & it makes me cry sometimes. He walked by us two years ago when we were learning how to kiss outside the gas station. Totally whacked. Remember that kind of worship? He drags a bright sun down the road & aligns his back to the light. He isn’t crazy, just insane. It’s baseball season, so the field is full of high school banners & real smiles. We became a national meme, but I don’t have a computer or know how to work the internet to see for myself. I’m like the opposite of a photograph—a grid of chains. I’m buzzing in tropical wool & it’s early July. I’m buzzing like that.