Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Dallas to Atlanta




I finished off 2008 with a long drive.
I flew from Atlanta to Dallas Monday at noon. I rode a shuttle to the airport Marriott and met a man.
A highly-cologned moustachioed man. I left with a BMW , 5 speeds, and a satchel.
I set my GPS I borrowed from my dad and began to drive.
I bought some coffee and a loaf of bread and saw an old couple almost crash into the front of a grocery store.
I drove out of Dallas and onto the flat lands.
I saw about 8 deer by a river.
I saw an oil well.
I started to shake.
My phone died.
I shook some more.
I began to feel ill and so I stopped after dark in Shreveport, LA.
I bought two burritos and shook in double-time.
A couple starred at me as I ate.
I like to live in squalor so I chose the wrong motel.
I just went to bed and pretended not to listen to the crazy sounds outside.
I pretended not to think of the roaches watching me sleep.
I had one of the worst nights in my life.
I woke and up and left at 6 before day light.
Things must get better.
I was happy to leave and felt better just getting out and up and forward.
It was 32 degrees and the heat did not work so I sat on my hands as the seat warmers did work.
Left hand and then right hand and repeat.
I saw a pretty sunrise.
I saw contrails over pink clouds.
I also saw two dead coyotes and a dead red fox.
I drove through bayous and hills.
I ate tater tots in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
My feet felt numb.
I saw pines and scrub oak.
I saw rivers and mountains.
I saw an indian man.
I saw a jet engine being hauled to Delta in Atlanta on a flatbed truck.
I dodged a crowbar that flew off a truck.
I made it back to Fayetteville about 5 pm.
I did not feel very well but it was fun to know I had driven so far and seen so much in 24 hours.
I drove 835 miles.

Moral of the story...
Watch out for the highly-cologned moustachioed man.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Moreland Avenue


i was waiting on the side of the road
the 4 lane down by taylorsville
and the sky was so blue
i saw you drive by
and i want to go home
i want to go home
i wish i had bought that new coat with the gray buttons
i see a dead cat in the weeds

i was waiting on my sister by the dentist's office
and a newspaper blows by like a black and white tumbleweed
i see you in the reflection on the bank window
your eyes as glassy as the northern skies
and i wish you were home
my sister is waiting by the car

i was waiting at the airport
a million people everywhere i looked
no one can see me
i am hungry but i don't want to wait in line
i think of the last time i saw you
i was in the B terminal
or maybe it was the security line
a lock of hair covered your left eye
i wish i was home

the bus passes me and the exhaust covers all
diesel dipped soul
i see the silver birds overhead
i hear the air brakes breathing
i watch the kudzu untie my shoes
i hear that old man talking in my ear
i am almost home

Monday, December 15, 2008

Capricorn


Walk along the beach...
see the fluid black forms swim past...
circle around for another view...
the spray of sea foam...
the salt in the air...
a January day is not out of touch...

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Flame

sometimes there is a flash
an explosion
a consuming fire
heat of a thousand sacrifices
sometimes a spark ignites another and another
sometimes a slow ember grows into a warm ever-present heat
an orange glow cupped between worn marred hands
sometimes it looses its fuel and dies
darkness
i have been all and none
flame inside of me
orange and red and blue
white light
light my way
the world is watching
the world forgets

Blue Threads


Face down in the carpet
(This is the actual carpet in Dulles International Airport)