drought (1988)

mega death pansies bake in the sun shedding cats pant
Singed mouse gut breath in the cool shade under  our car
blue jays parch the air with their metallic shrieks
Chasing the grasshoppers across
The hot white sky and our highway asphalt cracks its knuckles
Swearing mercy under steaming wheels leaving tracers

Of goo like slugs, children fry farm eggs on their bellies
Cool off in the sprinklers and slip-n-slides leaving
Grassy footprints on the kitchen tile by the koolaid
Colored beach towel, hammocks swing all over the Midwest
Universe as bluecollars play horseshoes
And go fishing and white collars play computer croquet
And do laps on treadmills out of the sun
For god sake

Scorching winds slither over the plains at night
The hum of granddads old metal fan like an airplane prop
And June bugs fluttering about the porch outside
And trees moan for the rains to return& soil cackles
Like a mad person buried up to the chin in drought




1988 Stillwater, Ok