WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?
You’re not there, not among the anonymous
on the streets, not among the lean coyotes
owning the alleys, not upon the bloated
screen chasing air time – I’m glad for that,
I guess – but have we forgotten we were
the children sired and suckled on prosperity,
fast times, drugs and expensive whiskey.
I drowned out Richie Valens on my Zenith,
moaned and groaned each new emotion
to myself, imagining. Who took Otis away
from us when we were full of feeling
everything we could? But we’re not there
anymore, each retreating to safer places
in the landscapes left of our minds –
always leaving a bit of soul behind.
It may not be cowboy poetry per se (it might not even be a very good poem), but what better community in which to find those basic threads of humanity – not the advertised, hyped-up humanity, but those senses the poet hopes more common to us all – ‘a poetry of work, daily life and the land’ – little insights while trying to get along with it all.
As always, I continue to edit or delete completely – appreciating more that our accumulated entries have begun to work for us as a functioning journal, more dependable at this juncture than cluttered memories.