Day One
This fleeting moment always steamy half suspended
Yes she says sipping a warm beer with a straw
We were always fighting and yelling obvious extremes
but did he have to go out last night and loose
Continue with your statement for the record please
helicopters are flooding out the stars the sky.
Day Three
Before five bullets claimed a murder
living beside this hospital felt somewhat comforting
Daze seem to have over extended themselves since
almost out of sight and never within reach
Mangled into digital lives and slogans
into worth and notice
Before five bullets claimed a murder
On the porch their propellers often made our hair curl
Their mechanical whirring sent invisible signals
Without the radio bleeping cosmic smiles
Kinda like how i sleep now
Propped up against a flat tire
Once their safe landing equaled a place
To rest and reassess the measurements of success
Before five angry bullets
Claimed a state capitol murder
What we take for granted often almost feels sacred
Living large on the bayous
Trenched deep in the one six.
Day Six
After the parade and funeral salutations
After a thousand uniformed bikes have been well polished and fed
This magnolia seems to be the last one weeping
This crepe myrtle blossom on my car perhaps a delicate gift of blood.
Day six times three
I admit without measure or judgement
for the past month I am tubing between
Rebel flags and daiquiris
Chemical plants and okra
This state of being follows me where ever i go
Into the shadows where live oaks bow
Fifteen hundred miles can seem like a ways
or a long shot before a safe exit
Before my toes and fingers are dipping
For another dance on bayou ridge road.
Day Break
And so what about today and care of a future
So what about the folks volunteering without pay
So what about the displaced
The fractured and unforgiving
The shirtless mothers
Swaddled in debt
So what about the thousands forced living in shelters
Or worse finally realizing hope is for suckers
So what about the guy trying to get back on his feet
and the countless businesses gone flat broke on a joke
So what about the priest who cares for his parish
and the cop on the beat who believes in helping a child
So what about neighbor and his three barking dogs
and the stray cat pissing along the fence
So what about this flood water riddled with scum
Belching out toxins we use to color our hair
So what about the farmers losing their crops
Or my mother in law who just wants to sip coffee and write
So what about this state you claim only fools can live in
Or worse is spawned by racist bigots
So what if it continues to rain for another week or so
this news can never sell a shiny BMW
So what is going to happen
Feels beyond our control
The great you s of a
just won another Olympic gold medal.
