7.10.2010

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

7.04.2010

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.







7.03.2010

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.



7.02.2010

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.