ranch dressing

I am the fatted calf; let the bellering begin 

as I go down to the trampled water grounds
wearing this season’s seeds and burrs.
I strut a grazing gaze across the landscape
that carries within it the seeds of deconstruction.
but you know, while cars can carry them
everywhere, ain’t no beggars ticks on me.

      news from a small town 45, November 2011

in the news: it's us v. us

in the news again: it's us v. us
however we make them the
them... and in response 
all that displeasure expressed
pithily-wittily – when enough is -
find a dark hole, bury self-satisfaction in’t.

     news from a small town 44, November 2011

how to lie with statistics and be quoted in the local paper

"killing two wolves won't have an effect on the population as a whole"

the only thing between us and tyranny is bureaucracy.
you don't want those official wheels to grind too fast

especially on illogical days when furlough cuts
the state paycheck a bit too tight at holiday time. thus:

"it's only two wolves - it won't affect the population
as a whole." but what I want to know is "since when

is dead not dead?" and if it's all true, then "why bother
with killing at all?" make up your mind! or wait, perhaps

it is. gather your troika and guns, boys, and be sure to
hang the wolf-loving B&B's out for breakfast. thus -

if you have twenty fingers and toes, what happens
if you cut off two? will that hobbling gait be nothing

to you? or will you hang around for the lopping
of another two, another two, till you run out? 

News from a small town 43, Oct 2011

Notes from and Interview (for Lasso the Wind)

Notes from an interview: “These rural people are
pretty simple and unsophisticated,” the local
rouser of rabble said, leading a mob of eighty
so-called friends and neighbors to hang in effigy
two folks on the other side of an idea. Not that
this is new. “Joseph didn’t sell” notes Tim Eagan,
lucky enough to be through here but not on
the business end of an imaginary lynch mob.
Meanwhile, life goes on. “Vote for me!” pleads
this one and that. "I'm of this place - and here
just for you is a bumper sticker equal in
intellectual weight to my estimate
of your intelligence.” And with that, we'll all
operate according to our morals (all secretly
thinking prophylactically - I don’t want my laws
enforced with someone else's morals - as
you never know where they’ve been.) Oh, it’s
beautiful here in Wallowa County - poor stolen,
beat-up landscape. And all of us are complacent
beneficiaries  - whatever side we're on, no matter
how righteous or not, we occupy the Wallowa Country.

News from a small town 42, Oct 2011

tis the season, but not the one you think

I’ll bet you three bucks 

you’ll find them hiding out
in someone’s back yard, 

browsing the lilacs in town, 
now its hunting season.

No need to confirm this
prediction – you know
two days before the orange
vests and whiskey bottles
hit the ground for good

all the whitetails, all the
mule deer have hit the
road for lower ground
where they’re strictly
off limits. Deer too, read all

the ODFW reports, and snicker
as they head straight to town,
where all the dogs know that
barking only brings on antlers
and hooves for the trouble.

News from a small town 41, Oct 2011

the illusion next door

five old men sit and solve

the problems of the world

or at least next door over

fair coffee and good muffins

five young women drive by

laughing and smoking and

not yet aware of fear or where

the next meal might not come

five middle-aged women

conspire over red wine and

good chocolate - it is not

at core, all about the men

five teen boys flex their fists

and contemplate pounding

fear of god and law and

where to get the next beer

it's a town like any other
some good, some wretched
some joy, some pain - but

all so very close to home

 News from a small town 40, Oct 2011

winter in a tea cup

that's not rain dancing
in the sky

only October snow 

 News from a small town 39, Oct 2011