DRY CRIK Journal

FAKE FORTY-NINER

We knew Ardell
had been acting crazy
            for weeks
he grew a beard
stalked around
muttering to himself

I gotta go now
to Jackass Hill
To Poker Flat
to Angels Camp

I gotta pan some gold
race me some frogs
kiss me some CanCan girls
I really got to go

He drove away in his Pinto
with the ping
toward the motherlode
on Golden Chain Highway 49

We didn’t hear from him
until his bonanza petered out
            he phoned collect
the Pinto gave up in Jamestown

ROCKING HORSE

The price of cotton
was high that year
and Papa bought Buster
a rocking horse

and tied it to a tree
on Christmas Eve

Next day
Buster rocked on it
all around the world
to the crib
where the infant lay

And the bells rang out
in every town
Peace on earth
to horse and rider
as they sped past

            1994 Christmas Card Greeting

SOMETHING GOOD WAS GONE FOREVER

It was a sad picture
I can tell you
my Uncle Garland fell apart
when the Fort Worth
Livestock Auction closed
he hadn’t raised livestock
for years
then on a modest scale
he and Aunt Dora used to go
to the auction in their little
silver bullet trailer
just as part of their vacation
we are retired they said
if we can’t go where
we want to
someone better lock us up
Well, they never should
have gone to the closing day
of the auction
The weather was gray
cold and windy
old veteran handlers
walked around
with hands in their pockets
Aunt Dora told me
it was a sad picture
like all the ghosts of
past years mourning
that something good
was gone forever