the cool thing about living
in the country
is you can see animals
and land
and changing leaves
you can sing
old mcdonald had a farm
and time it
so when you say
he had a cow
there they are
with a moo moo everywhere
and when you say
he had a goat
there they are
and you can throw in tigers
with a roar roar here
and a roar roar there
and the landscape is
so much more interesting
specially if you're on
a long road trip
and your mom says
she'll give you a quarter
for every white horse you see
with a neigh neigh here
and sometimes
you can pull over
to stretch your legs
and get up close
and pet the animals
feed the goats
and you're dad says
he'll give you a dollar
for every elephant you see
it keeps you on your toes
scanning the countryside
singing old mcdonald had a farm
instead of mcdonalds has
fatty foods.
For a Dancer
ReplyDeleteDamn near got my arm broke
The Uncle on Stillwater objected
my glib evaluation of
yet another old elder
face in black and white and regalia
Backwards over the chair
The arm wrestle
did not go well
Early
I climbed up the shaky ladder
into that dry rising Nevada sun to put a new roof on his shed
while he was inside making a turquoise and
Cornflower necklace for me
I was once the snake bearer
In the basket and under the boa
was a bottle of tequila cleverly concealed
where no one would ever look
She called him He
He danced with her
draped over her shoulders
head on one arm
tail on the other
a certain unity of spirit
as I sat aside with
the basket and
the bottle
He poked his head in a knothole
in a back room at the belly dance place
wouldn’t come out
it was only later I learned
snakes can only go forward
they do not go back
The shed roof is probably gone
as is the shed I guess
so is the necklace
Like life and snakes
we don’t go back
just remember the spent echoes
of the old dry skins
long ago shed and faded
some black and white regalia
memories
And the long gone footprints of
a gypsy dancer
(Remember me? jdublyou@sbcglobal.net)