The Turkey Hunter
Things shifted into higher gear despite me. Or on account of me. Why not be honest? […]
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Big Daddy
Called me Hot Stuff. Called me Ragtop, Lugnut, your Deere-in-the-Driveway Duchess. Called forth Bad Company from the pick-up’s stereo and, lo, I appeared with a buck knife and a hundred-proof smile, my battered hunter’s manual tucked in the waistband of my cutoffs. What were we at first but two necks of the same guitar, high […]
The Poet Prays to Her Radio for a Country Song
O guardian of the well-lunged, purveyor of lies, enabler of the backseat horny, I am sorely afflicted. Traveling the long tongue of highway 40, I fear the bottomless black sky of loneliness has hawked me from the back of its throat and doomed me to land, wet and without notice, in the dust-bitten spittoon of […]
The Country-Western Singer’s Ex-Wife, Sober in Mendocino County, California
Somewhere back East my late love’s all coked up, another cowgirl wannabe lying at his feet while he plucks a Willie Nelson song from his beer-soaked six string and complains nobody understands a rebel’s broken heart. I’ve played her part, the star struck blonde in boots and denim mini, pert boobs, and brains to boot. […]
Plainsong
If you saw my footprints around the barn loft ladder, you would know I tie each bale with sisal twine and secrets. If you saw me kneel among cut sweetcorn stalks, you would know I hear vespers in the auger’s rush. If Red-tails scouted the warren’s edge, or murders called from their barbed wire roosts, […]
Nocturne
for Matthew Twenty-two, come from the underground, you’re through with the mine’s night shift and wear coal dust like vernix while playing Clair de Lune. Moths crowd the porch-lit screen door, and you’ve come to trust your ear for every chord. Dark note by note, how many hours you’ve searched for songs that burn like […]
The Ring
These days, you don’t just buy a solitaire. You look for flaws with magnifying loupes, check color grades, make setting choices: flared four-prong cathedral, ridged contour, or flutes of baguette accents down the sides. The bands, once standard 14k gold, now come in weapons-grade titanium. It stands to reason, one would think, as rings become […]
The Bridesmaid
Having played the roles of bride’s best friend, groom’s sister, last minute fill-in, and token female cousin, you’re prepared for dyed-to-match high heels, the blisters, cold beef, warm beer, the chicken dance, and the dozen well-meaning guests who pat your hand and ask, Have you found someone special yet, sweetheart? You’ve learned to include in […]