Holly Salvatore

Holly Salvatore Apr 2013

Lisa

There's a wild-eyed girl in michigan
Not even 8 years old yet
Beetles and briars
Stuck all over her best clothes
And she knows
Mom will have her head for this
But she invades the boys' fort anyway
And gets a milk snake
To the face
Silt and clay
Streaking her hair
For her troubles
Just a typical day
She slides smiling
On the frozen hose-water
Pond her dad made in the yard
Face alight
Alike in cold and heat
Until that same gang of boys
Steers her straight into a tree
Through the bruises she's got
Dry eyes
She never cries
Grows up still
Wild-eyed
Beetles and briars
And scorpions
In hiking boots
***** cowboy hats
Hanging from the rearview
Of her muddy 4WD Jeep
She falls and scrapes her tan knees
Running from an angry bull
In some farmer's field
And all the fella's hearts
Are full
Of the curve of her back
And 30 years later
Still wild-eyed
When her doctor tells her
She's going to die
Again she doesn't cry
She just wants to hike the Grand Canyon
One more time

Holly Salvatore Apr 2013

Relationships (Sort of Sentence Haiku)

In the end they're just men; they're not the products of a Disney dreamer's imagination.

And I'm a three-beer girl with tattoos, trust issues, and a heart of gold.

Holly Salvatore Apr 2013

Dragging the River

I had a dream
They were dragging the river
Flashing lights everywhere
And I'm not saying
I know how your car got there
Upside down
Full of muddy water
And floating soccer *****
Likely that *******
Just up and died on you
I'd have quit you too
If I had any sense
Would have been better that way
Trust me
But all I'm saying is
The Kaskaskia's claimed you now
Let that cold
Murky water
Rush through your hair
Sing you to sleep
Instead of me
Trust me, it's better
I don't get a hold of you
It's much better this way
And maybe they'll find you in the morning
But maybe they won't
All I'm saying is
I know you can't swim
And I know they're dragging the river

Holly Salvatore Apr 2013

Branson

Candy cigarettes
And cowgirl boots
She plays banjo
With a scowl
And small hands like lightning
Dying to touch
Those curves swinging by
Her eyes light up
Dim under the weight of church lights
And expectations
"I can't be the way you made me"
"I'll be outside."
(Smoking)
Candy cigarettes
Her only joy in life

She's beautiful.

Holly Salvatore Apr 2013

Freeburg Famous

Everyone knows what my name is
In this little **** town
And I'd really like to give them
More to talk about
The drop outs
The tattoos
The break-ups
And the people-making-excuses-for-me-just-because-my-mom-died
Will never be enough
Gossip
So here goes
Every barn from Freeburg to Smithton
Up in smoke
No more kindling left to burn
In the middle of the night
And here goes
Every corn field
All the sorghum
All the wheat mowed
Cut down before its prime
Grain-based livelihoods
Grain-based lives
Gone.
And here's to all the old-timers
With their shot guns out
Sitting on the porch
Here's to all the life savings
All the small town banks
I'm about to knock down
Here's to cops who are
Terrible shots
And here's to getting out
Freeburg Famous
My name on everybody's lips
Giving the lifers
Something real to talk about

I listened to a lot of Miranda Lambert last night.

Holly Salvatore Apr 2013

Suns out, Guns out

It's a take-your-top-off
Kind of day
And I'm getting naked
In the backyard
Merle Haggard rambling
Feverishly in my mind
I'm letting the sun
Get a little frisky
Kiss me anywhere it wishes
And the lilacs whisper
Fragrance
There's a new cadence
of Grasshopper sounds
I'm gonna change things
I'm gonna be that girl
That everybody falls in love with
Everybody knows her name
Dark-skinned
All muscle
All smiles
Living life outside
Kissing all the boys
And making them cry
Living life famously
Shamelessly
Physically
With a closet full of jorts and cut-off tees
I'm gonna be that girl
Because
It's a take-your-top-off
Kind of day
And I'm already naked
I'm a wild mustang
I've got nothing
To lose but my shirt
and my inhibitions

This is what I did today with my day off. I'll probably keep editing this one.

Holly Salvatore Apr 2013

Untitled

I'm a little teapot
Full of spicy
Sweetness
A floral
Peachy
Potion
Cures what ails you
Never fails you
Steep me three minutes
Blow
Warm your cold hands
I'm a little teapot
Drink me in