an otherwise peaceful gravel road by Jack Henry
we sit quiet in shade built by man
a clutch of old abandoned buildings
clustered around a railway station
no train comes
or goes
no settlers arrive or disembark
no cowboys and indians play
a fat black crow sits on a railing covered in thick veins of rust
he cries at me
caw, caw, he says
caw, caw indeed
at nightfall the sun will vanish
temperatures will remain high
a dry thick heat
maddening in its way
wrapped across the skin of man and woman
a body drops after the crack of a gunshot
i drag a lifeless form to a grave carved
from yearning flesh of Mother earth
a steel blade from a shovel scraps against dust
ashes to ashes, we all fall down
morning begins to glow in an Eastern sky
children sing and dance in faraway towns
mothers lay down with strangers
a car disturbs an otherwise peaceful gravel road
_______________________________________
Jack Henry is a poet living in Southeastern California near the Salton Sea in a single-wide trailer on a ten acre plot of desert scrub. Years ago he was published on-line and in print. He is reemerging after self-imposed exile.
we sit quiet in shade built by man
a clutch of old abandoned buildings
clustered around a railway station
no train comes
or goes
no settlers arrive or disembark
no cowboys and indians play
a fat black crow sits on a railing covered in thick veins of rust
he cries at me
caw, caw, he says
caw, caw indeed
at nightfall the sun will vanish
temperatures will remain high
a dry thick heat
maddening in its way
wrapped across the skin of man and woman
a body drops after the crack of a gunshot
i drag a lifeless form to a grave carved
from yearning flesh of Mother earth
a steel blade from a shovel scraps against dust
ashes to ashes, we all fall down
morning begins to glow in an Eastern sky
children sing and dance in faraway towns
mothers lay down with strangers
a car disturbs an otherwise peaceful gravel road
_______________________________________
Jack Henry is a poet living in Southeastern California near the Salton Sea in a single-wide trailer on a ten acre plot of desert scrub. Years ago he was published on-line and in print. He is reemerging after self-imposed exile.
