unnatural senses
& a shot to the
brain


we all make mistakes here
take smaller doses of
that courage before it feasts
upon your flesh


forget your belongings
but don't forget your
place


someday you'll see
Jupiter
when you least expected
her


your head is resting on
the high chair
& when you can learn how to
reach it
she'll learn how to shine
a little brighter


but until then you can
go stand
in the corner,
mister

grit your teeth
& tie your garters
girls
we got him right where
we want him

just don't drink his
blood
don't laugh at his
jokes
& for God's sake

never catch him smiling

the blue-eyed babes all call
that man the devil
& he will drag us all straight
to Hell if we can't keep
our cool

keep lighting his
cigarettes

keep tasting his
bourbon tongue

your day will come
& your glorious goddess wings
will strip him down
to all the breath
he ever stole
from you

& you'll never let your
musician of choice
into your bed
again











for another week
or two

oh miss lovely lady


wasted before the clock

strikes one

Proverbs 31:6. "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts."


I met you half dead in the desert ....
A drop of blood down the side of your head
Red lips and
dark haired killer
(whispered)
"Agua?" through the heat
Glimmering pistol handles
My canteen with a cross
Fresh filled at river
Cool and sweet

the last thing I remembered
was the taste of cherry
*****
& his daring death kiss
this ******* headache
kills
& I'll speak my own
broken spanish
to save the only life
I got left

Dust deals heat to the back of my throat
Sweat is thick on my forehead
You take the silver flask
As the hem of your dress lifts just enough
She was the devil
Like a lone roaming coyote looking for a meal
The silent circling vulture
The rattlesnake bite
The scorpion sting
She drinks as if she has been lost
A drop of sweat
Rolls down the back of my neck

I was terrified to say more
as if he already knew
I was lying somehow, some way
his eyes were that of a
cautious man
eyes you always trusted
even if they didn't
trust you
I could tell I was bleeding now
dizzy desert
sand on my tongue
sand in my head
& all these cautious eyes
around me

She seemed to sway
Like a **** in the wind
She was gonna need bandages
For the cut on her head
I had half a bottle of liquor
In the sadlebags
She's dressed in dust
Wiping her lips with her hand
Cherry lipped
Tense as a jackrabbit
Ready to run


Its funny how you can
shoot a man in the
knee
& he'll tell you all
his secrets
but those ****** eyes
were leaving me wildly merciful
& in a blur of blood and sweat and dirt
I gave him the gun tied to my thigh
& took the shirt tied to his waist
it was my new wig
or my new pillow in my desert bed
god, let me sleep forever
with this stranger who has my gun
how can you tell if you're in shock?
will the sky ring with magenta
in the prelude to my death
or will it be quiet as this strange, strange
stranger?

Her gun always seemed to get me into trouble

Since I have taken it by the handle

There's been a strange wind on the east

Nights I try to sleep

It calls up from the holster

Speaking in tongues of dead men

Souls I had to deliver


Nothing can compare though
To the nightmares of you
In which We stole away in wagons
Flaming arrow full
I saw her eyes
In my mind
Burnt
Like a fever dream
Full of liquor bottles
Full of bullets
Full of her thighs
I could not tear my eyes away
No matter how I tried
You pulled me deep
Into velvet seas
Of blue
and Green
The taste of gin
The taste of whiskey
Beautiful and sweet

paper and pen
haven't been very acquainted
in this home
of all the things
I'm trying to remember
& starving to
forget

I whisper all my unused
& ****** words
into the depths of my
bones
where they'll swim to
the surface
just as the harvest
begins
& the sun sings on my
bare skin
with the melody playing
in lightning clouds
& midnight skies

you're holding my patience
for ransom
& you don't even know it
you are one
carefully crafted glance
away from
mental incineration
if the mild winter lasts
much longer

we might break away with some of our teeth left

oh, sink me underneath
your tired bones
& I'll rest until my wings
grow back
for I fear I'll never
fly in
these desert days
where the sun is higher
than I am
for what seems like
an eternity
& the moon is my
long-lost lover

honey, what
I want you to understand
is that I would sail
a billion stormy
death-laden waves
to get to where you sleep
at night
& for that kind of
thinking
I **** well deserve
the desert days
but I'll gladly take them




there's only so much land
before you reach the
sea

one last glimpse
from sunken moon eyes



& I'm dust