His Poems

The way
he flicked gently
open his late
Grandfather's
chunky Zippo-

its finish worn
and polished
by the fine
Delta dirt
and overall
pocket
of a man
who climbed
daily
on and off
a red Farmall
tractor-

the way he
drew deeply
on the hand
fashioned
cigarette,
breathing
out a great cloud
then still
allowing the last
slender bit
of smoke to
escape gently
from his nostrils.

It was
the way he
dropped his chin
and pushed back
his hair
up and straight out
and gave a
well rehearsed
cutting up of his eyes
the way a
boy might
when he first
wooed his
mother.

The women that
he had been with,

the drugs
and the booze,
and prisons
and jails,

and
the women-

this last one
most of all.

This was
the tragedy
he wrote.

These were
his poems.

His work,
then,
that of recorder
of the
melancholy
life
he had created.

I'd Never

I remember

once when

I would never

grow old,

so many 

years ago 

now.

Just being grown

seemed so

many miles

from that FHA

house in Caraway

on cemetery road.

That was Then,

and Rumblefish,

a full set of 

Worldbooks from

1976, and a 

black and white

set out back,

beside my 

roll-away bed.

Life's lesson,

love doesn't last

and a marriage.

A move, and 

a new home.

I remember 

when Jonesboro

seemed so large.

I remember

when I 

could not die.

I pulled back 

scarlet swirls 

and pushed 

them in again.

I rode on top,

outside of cars.

I carried 

my big brothers 

.22 pistol 

tucked in my 

waistband,

the grip was 

small and branded

with a buffalo.  

Wind rushed

through my hair, 

and dope 

through the rest,

at some point then,

feeling alone.

I remember

finding a wife,

building a home,

I remember 

when my daughters

still spoke 

to me.

I remember rehabs,

and prisons, and

life on the streets-

a cardboard sign

and spare change.

I remember.

I remember once,

I would never grow old.

Open Campus Kids

I want a burger
from the Dog,
with too much
mustard and onions,
and a Big K cola
to wash it down.

I want to stand
around the side after
and burn one
with those people
I used to go there
with, the people
from Nettleton High.

I want to be teen
sure
about everything
and nothing
but just
for a moment.

Just for a little,
I'd like to be young.