Stale Clues

i cut my little toe on the corner of an open door
i cut it too quick
i stood in line at the auto parts store
i listened as the guy before me took up my time
to complain about how long it took for him

i had lunch with my girl
i ran errands while she worked
i drove 80 miles
i dropped off rentals, picked up papers, left the courthouse
and took to the beach

a fag took a drag of a fag not in drag
a wink he gave me
a smile, and he's always over there on a bench by the pier
i'll have to walk by but i don't have to get near
the bathrooms, or his lug wrench

a notary at city hall was still out to lunch
so a minute i talked to my mom on the phone
a cloud came at two and was followed by hundreds
as they gathered like sheep,
in the dream of a child

and i drove up and over the bridge back to Colbert
and i listened to music, to talk, and to news
and i watched the sky thicken as the sun cooled it's gases
and you sat in your hammock and read parts of stale clues
and wondered as you puffed what to do or to ponder,
what is next, what is best, how shall i pass thru?

so i figured the maze of trapped steel and flat horses
so i climbed up the mountains, jumped off and i flew
so i toiled with the passive the angry and massive
the tiniest creature is still the foot in my shoe
tipping and cracking the bones and the blood veins
throwing and jarring the soul from her flesh
gouging and daring the last of the deep breath
to be all that i tasted in the moment I knew




b