you've got a

Blue eyed soul. And I don't think you will ever let it go.

You are a cymbal crash and a snare drum bang. A roughstock pony and a Sundance all rolled up into a difficult sequence. Your sky is a star-quilt.

You wear your hat at a tilt because you can't get it right and you don't rely on mirrors. You walk with a limp because the world has worn half of you down.

An owl follows you. He's telling you to go home. His night-time song haunts your last days. He's waiting just like you.

He follows you to White Clay, lands on your old Ford that won't start. So you start walking north with the others.

They might make it. You won't.

scare easy

My love's an ocean
You better not cross it
I've been the distance
And I need some rest
Yeah I had somebody once
And damn if I lost her
I've been running
Like a man possessed

I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart
When I'm under the gun
You can break my heart
And I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy
For no one

Yeah, I am a loser
At the top of my game
I should have known
To keep an eye on you
Now I got a God
It ain't never the same
Yeah, I got a dream
That don't ever come true

I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart
When I'm under the gun
You can break my heart
But I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy
For no one

Sun going down
On a canyon wall
I got a soul
That ain't never
Been blessed
Yeah and I'm a shadow
At the back of the hall
Yeah, I got a sin
I ain't never confessed

And I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart
When I'm under the gun
You can break my heart
And I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy
For no one

Tom Petty

i did

Have you ever had something beautiful come into your life when you least expected it? When you were so lost you thought you might go blind? When you were so hot in the blistering desert sun but still feeling cold. The wind blowing dust around like snow.

Then she comes into your life just like magic. You see her and you can't look away. Can't pretend you're lonesome anymore. Her heart takes you to the other side. The side you weren't on before. She makes you feel high and wide. Big as an ocean. As tall as a tree.

I heard that music and felt the pulse. I saw her and everything else looked better, felt better, even in the background. Hell, the background faded from view. I could only see her.

I saddled my horse. Rode out onto the range. Listened to a perfect opera. It was hers. She sang it to me. She broke through the fences I'd put up. Crossed the cattle guard to my heart. Jump started the old truck. Smiled and made the sun rise again.

So if you ever ask me the that question, have you ever had something beautiful come into your life when you least expected it, I'll answer.

I did.

shaken not stirred

I rather be shaken than stirred. Been both. Stirred is too slow and deliberate, shaken is right here, right now. No time to lose. A freefall hurricane. Maybe you catch yourself in time, maybe you don't. You hear the sirens. You get in the ambulance and take the ride down to the infirmary. You're a thunderstorm. An earthquake. Shaken not stirred.
Just a sack of dust, just a bag of bones. A rodeo down the road. It's not where you've been, it's what you understand. Not thinkin', just feelin'. Roll out your bedroll in the back of your truck and roll it up again. Busted flat in a bar in Lame Deer. Goin' the full eight on the rankest bull. Throwing your rope at the right moment. Winning the girl and a little cash money.
Sittin' at a truck stop. Taping the knee and joinin' the rosin on your glove to your rigging. Boy, you better make it count. So heat it up first.
Shaken, not stirred.

dad gum

Dad Gum is keen on Lola Simpendorfer. Lola pushes soda pop at the cafe in Wasta and goes dancing at the Two Bit in Quinn every Saturday night. She paints the barn and puts on her best dress, hose and shoes. High heels. She can dance in them.
Dad Gum came in one night after cutting hay all day and saw Lola sitting alone across the dimly lit saloon and steakhouse on Highway 44. He couldn't look away. He decided to ask her to dance even though he was dressed in dusty overalls and work boots and hadn' t shaved for days.
But Dad Gum was an accomplished Cali, Columbia Salsa Style dancer. Dad Gum preferred the common name Boogaloo and pumped two bucks into the CD jukebox, calling up his favorite, King Bongo. This caught Lola's attention. She herself was an accomplished Salsa Cubana dancer and the styles are complementary.
Dad Gum always keeps a red rose in his truck for just such occasions and went to fetch it. Lola's anticipation grew. Dad hurried, he didn't not want to miss his chance but as Dad went out, Enrique De Santiago went in. With slick black hair, a pencil thin mustachio, red polyester pant-suit and shiny shoes he swept past, reeking of cheap cologne. He glanced derisively at Dad Gum.
Dad Gum grabbed his rose and and hurried back inside, expecting the worst. But it seems Lola had seen Dad looking at her. Watched him fire up the jukebox and decided he was for her and she for him. She nodded at Enrique, indicating she was taken. She gave Dad her best smile and nodded yes. They tore up the place. Truly brilliant Salsa.
And made plans for next Saturday and a life together.
Dad Gum.

antidepressant

I take an antidepressant everyday. It's not a drug, but works just as well or really, a lot better. I simply text my best friend and she texts me back. It always makes me smile, sometimes I giggle. Yep, the old man still has some giggles left in him and she finds them every time. I love her for it. We are peas in a pod. Like goofy kids in school.
When I'm with her time stops. Or rather, it goes too fast. Way too fast. Hours evaporate. When I'm not, everything I do reminds me of her. She is the catcher on my baseball team. Catching all my dreams and pop flys. She is my running back. She scores touchdowns and never fumbles. She smiles at me in a way that melts my heart. I can't take my eyes off of her.
She is my sophisticated date at the best restaurants in town. She always tries to get the check before I can. She charms the waitstaff. She leaves a big tip.
She is my candied apple. My pumpkin pie. My heart.
She is everything to me. She is my best friend. She makes me a better person.
I love my best friend.
I always will.

pepa asalto

Is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is beautiful. In spirit and appearance. She is intelligent, sophisticated and charming. She is my friend. I am lucky that she chooses to be my friend also.
In her honor,  I support Argentinian football and I don't call those islands the Falklands, I call them the Isles Malvinas.
I would love to go to Buenos Aires. Meet Pepa,  her husband and her children. I'm sure I would be brought into her home and treated like a long lost friend. A kindred spirit. A world citizen. Like her.
It probably won't happen. But that doesn't matter so much. We are both Americans (there is a north and a south, you know) and we are friends. I will always have a place in my heart for her. I hope she's made room in hers for me.
Vamos Argentina!

let's get lost

Tripped over a dog in a choke-chain collar.
Traded a smoke for a food stamp dollar.
A weekend away from the cavalcade.

I never really ever had a problem because of leaving.
No one's gonna fool around with us, Angel.
Ours is a ballad of big nothing.You can do what you want to whenever you want to.
There's no one to stop you. It doesn't mean a thing.
Big nothing.

Smoking Camels. Picking lemons.
We don't belong here. Let's get lost.

Drink up baby, stay up all night.
Look at the stars.
Keep things we forgot.

Let's get lost.

for peets sake

Peet Terwilliger married Hedder Hoy on the 5th of August in 1999. You can probably guess what the theme for the reception was as both favored Prince at the time. Hedder wore a purple dress and Peet a purple velvet jacket and frilly shirt. Their spotlight slow dance was to Purple Rain and they left in Hedder's Uncle's van dedicated to Prince.

They drove pell mell into Wyoming, with reservations at the Buffalo Bill Super 8 in Cody. They were headed for the Bighorns and then on to Yellowstone. But something happened. The trip was cut short. Prince had left his record company and changed his name to The Artist. Peet was dissappointed, Hedder was intrigued. The Artist was traveling too, hitting swanky bars, playing country tunes at VFW's and Shriner events. He was in Rock River at Bill's Casino and Slots that Tuesday.

This was Hedder's chance. Catch The Artist while he's down, nurture and revive his musical soul. Drop Peet and move on. Right after the bond had been certified in the Lutheran tradition.

Peet could sense the tension. He couldn't keep his mind on the road. He couldn't stop wondering. At mile marker 116, Peet pulled the van over and ripped the neon guitar from the purple carpet wall of the customized van. He tossed the vintage 8 tracks onto the road. He pulled Hedder from the van. And gave her an ultimatum. I'm your Prince, he shouted, big rigs zooming past, smell of diesel and asphalt in the air. I'm will die for 4 u, he screamed, paraphrasing the title of another Prince hit.

Ms. Hedder laughed. A squeaky little erp of a laugh but just enough to set Peet off. Peet swung the neon guitar over her head and into the dry grassland adjacent. Another sqeak. Peet lost it. He stripped off his purple velvet jacket and frilly shirt and bolted into the roadway.

A Sweedish Hanna couldn't stop in time. The length of time to stop an eighteen wheeler is 40% greater than that of an automobile.  Depending on the weight of their load,  whether they are bobtailing,  road conditions,  and other factors.  To be sure,  it takes a much greater time to stop than an automobile… period. Pete met his fate on that lonesome Wyoming highway.

Asked later, Hedder refused to answer any questions and sat silently hurting. 
For Peet's sake.