Then God Bless You

If you’ve sat where I sit

And watch cannon smoke

Diffuse through the tree branches

And grow deaf

With each fiery blast

Inhaling burnt powder

And cordite

Then God bless you.

If you’ve stood shoulder to shoulder

Fixing glittering bayonets

And wishing you were

Anywhere but here

And every cell in your body

Seeks to fly away

Far, far away

And anywhere but here

Then God bless you.

If you’ve ever wondered

Why you cannot feel the earth

Beneath your feet

And the entire bloody field

Seems to fall away

Like you’re viewing the whole battle

From some cloudy height

And all you want is

Water and time

Just time and water

Then God bless you.

If you’ve ever wondered

If your girl

Or your folks back home

Remember you

Or think of you

Whether they fear for you

And await your imminent return?

If you believe the snake that curls

Deep in your throat

Behind your tongue

Is fear

Then God bless you.

God bless you

When your bowls loose

Your stomach heaves

God bless you

When you wipe

The blood and brains

Of your friend from your face

And, at that moment caught yourself

Begging for your mother.

Yes,

God bless you, sir.

 

Come, Child (I'll Teach You to Hate)

She sat me on her

Knobby knee

Poked my belly

And said that’s where

A Yankee shot me.

I looked at my

Belly button

With a child’s shock

And examined my “wound”

Taking amazed stock.

That’s how Grammy

Taught me to hate

Soldiers wearing blue

And disdain all

They both say and do.

Her daddy was a *Rebel

And he toted

His hate forever

Passing it on to me

To lay it down never.

Soldiers in blue

Have marched far off

And never will return

But if they do

They’ll set these fields to burn.

So come, child, sit upon my knee

And I’ll teach you

How and who to hate.

It’s branded on your belly

It’s both our fortune and your fate.

*5th Mississippi Vol. Infantry, Co. C 

Sniper*

You will know it’s time

When the trigger throbs

Beneath your finger.

The walnut stock resting

In your palm

Will ache.

You will hear the muzzle

Breath’s staccato 

Hiss.

You will know its time

When your lungs

Burn like a coal furnace.

You will know it’s time

When your mark

Opens his eyes

When he sees you

And knows his tomorrows

Are over.

Then you will know

It’s time.

*I spent a little time with a law enforcement Special Response Team (SRT). Not enough to roll with them, but enough to understand what makes them shudder.

A Bit Peek-ed

You okay, pardner?

My buddy asks

Leaning over his cup

At the Dixie Café.

You look a bit peek-ed

He says

From behind his sweeping

White moustache.

He straightens

In his chair

Glancing across the room

Searching those ears

He didn’t intend listen

To his pointed query.

He misses nothing

Observes everything

Knows my life

The way he knows

The bark of his dog

Or the sputter and growl

Of his truck.

My breath comes with effort

And my cup sits cooling before me.

I cover my left hand

To disguise the absence of the ring

That once hid the

Fish belly skin below the missing gold band.

Yeah

I say.

Just got the wind knocked outta me

Is all.

Lonely

Lonely...

Is the sound of one beating heart

The smell of last night’s uncollected refuse

The sight of a single toothbrush in the holder

The touch of nothing but bedsheets against your Skin

The taste of dry toast upon your tongue.

Lonely...

Has no anthem or opus

To herald its presence

No bawdy dance

Or flashing lights

To announce entry.

Lonely...

Creeps along curbsides

And stalks within blind alleyways.

Lonely...

Has no sizzle on the griddle

No appetite or desire.

Lonely...

Offers no laughter

No camaraderie.

Lonely...

Has no melodic poetry

No soulful tunes.

Lonely...

Is the weed in the garden

And the single cloud veiling the moon.

Lonely

Simply

Is.

The Silence of Snows

The silence of snows

Pile against my door

While, within the panes

Fragrant coffee brews

And I shuffle in socked feet

To find my cup

Perched upon a crowded shelf.

There is nothing awaiting me today

So the snows shall remain trackless

And unmolested.

Today I will feed the fire

Settle into a soiled armchair

And let my soul drift

Along the baseboards.

Today I will lose count

Of my heartbeat

And ignore my pulse.

Today I will silence my phone

And forget to eat.

I will give this day away

And require from it nothing

I have not given to it.

The silence of snows

Will muffle my inhalations

And smother my snores.

The coffee will cool

In the cup

And I will bank the fires

Into ember

And I will curl within the cloud

And gather with the snows

Piling against my door.

Together

Why don’t you

Take my hand

And we can map this path

Together?

The mist is heavy

Like smoke on the mountain

But we can do this

Together.

I need a companion

With whom

I can share this adventure

Together.

We can twine our cords

And be better

In this journey

Together.

So, why don’t you

Take my hand

And we will push upward

Together?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prairie Winds

Prairie Winds

I never cared much for corrals

Or blind canyons.

I have a taste for open range

Being a bit of a mustang.

The only rope I can stand

Is the one looped

Over the pommel

Purposed for the take down.

I’ll take trail dust over star dust

Give me the westering sun

And the tall shadows

Of ancient trees.

Let any legacy I leave

Be in the prints I lay down.

Let my words be few

And carved in prairie winds.