hope springs quarterly

it's time for quarterly reports and

the guys who play with giant

toy trains are

tightrope walking on the old rails

during spring reporting.

the public is all a-bubble

there's “an over-expenditure

with the debt service.”oooooh!

“I don’t think it’s horrible.

I think we’re getting it

paid off.” ahhhhh!

and down the road Old Jim

grumbles about

turning the county into

box car parking: "git
the dang things

away from my house, I can't

sell it with that trash there."

but just like every spring-

for sale signs pop all

over the county

like morels and calf's brains.

maybe

the tourists won't notice,

and maybe

they'll overpay.
hope springs. boxcars
and bettors settle.

news from a small town 23, May 2011

cowboy qasida

claiming rightness, the truck slides
left over the stripes. Shall I shake

my fist or model evasiveness?
right or the other right, which

shall it be? You sumvabetcha -
just because you drive a big rig 

with naked girls on the flaps, do you
think you own the whole damn road?

of course you do, and so do I. time
for a showdown on the road to

the OK Quarter-Circle corral. I move
aside, for I know something you don’t -

where the young cop Charlie
is hanging out, speed gun in hand.

I'll show you manners for now, but
not an ounce of pity when I pass you by.


news from a small town 22, May 2011

transaction at register 5

small town grocery clerk
hands small town sheriff
a bill and smiles.
"that will be $80."
"looks like I'm the one
who gives the big ticket
this time!" he grabs
the sack and smirks.
"you know, I had
my eye on you as you
drove past today."
"oh... well.... um... does
it count that I waved?"
he grins and shifts the
bag. "it’s the guilty ones
who wave the hardest." 

news from a small town 21, May 2011