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113 · May 2021
Night Hawks
Sandy Galacio May 2021
Last night while riding nighthawk
a skittish herd of cattle
spooked by a desert rattler
panicked and sure skedaddled

Chased the cows in heavy brush
through briar, mud and water
running through the Texas night
Uvalde to the border

A coyote sings close by
he howls in a falsetto
the cattle now at their ease
are grazing in the meadow

White stars are slowly fading
the dawn is close to breaking
beans in Cookie’s *** are hot
I smell the biscuits baking
45 · Jan 2020
Day Man
Sandy Galacio Jan 2020
At 9:43 in the morning
Seven days of every week
He sits waiting on the doorstep
For the man who brings the keys
To taste the free eye opener
And shake the demons free

He clears the bar of glasses
Takes out bags of bottles
Cleans the filthy bathroom
Sweeps the dusty floor
Then sits on a barstool listening
For knocking on the door

It’s the functioning alcoholics
Impatient for that first double
To open up their day,
Provide them with false courage,
And chase the shakes away

Soon they’re all on barstools
With a few shots down the hatch
They talk of sports and politics
Opinions all spun to match
Each point made is redundant
A plaintive echo from the past

The Day Man sits in a corner,
His drinks and two eggs are free
The owner’s buying his tomorrow
To clean up tonight’s debris
He glances at the Day Man
But a drunk is all he sees

He room’s above a dance school
The music rises through the floor
Self pity dances by in every recollection
He lays bricks in a self made prison
Drinking toasts to his own reflection
And slides closed the cell room door

All his life his will has failed him
But tonight will be different, they’ll see
He’ll mix bourbon with pills and sorrow
Sufficient to break him free
Relief will come tomorrow,
Before the owner can use his key

At 9:43 the next morning, it’s 34 degrees
He’s found sitting against the doorway
By the man who brings the keys
No need of bourbon doubles
The demons are no longer trouble
The Day Man has broken free
34 · Jan 2020
Moons and Stars
Sandy Galacio Jan 2020
Under the golden light of memory
The past glows mellow and kind
The moons and stars of our youth
Ride aligned in a blue satin sky

Under the broken bridge of infirmity
In the twilight of our memory
The moons and stars of our youth
Ease us with a gentle remedy

— The End —