for Matt Tannenbaum
To begin and end with words.
To believe all words given and all words received
From a Universe populated with words
Can fuel the craving to create new worlds
One word at a time.
Trying to encourage words
By reading books and newspapers
Online journals and magazines
Filled and throbbing with the magic of themselves.
Hoping these published words glisten as stars glisten
Transforming a blanket of darkness into tapestries sparkling with song.
And when words escape
Back into the void
I tempt them with my Muse
Wearing well-worn boots
Cufflinks & white cotton shirt.
Like a hunter perhaps sitting patiently in woods
Wired and waiting for the next Buck to arrive.
And sniff. Then stare. Then graze on fresh feed
Emptied from a sack onto glacial rock
Packed silent with snow.
Knowing it’s useless to compare
How other songs are sung.
Expertly compiled. Perfect and precise.
Organic in their composition and truth.
Knowing it’s my soul who reloads the gun.
Before nestling the stock into my shoulder
Before aiming then a breath.
Before acceptance pulls the trigger.
Regardless of the unpaid bills
Crushed on the dashboard
Of a rusting truck
Without tags
No longer insured
Because the gas gauge
Sleeps on empty.
Fueling the habit to meander through
The rural convenience of convenient farm
Grown country raised convenience stores
Armed with loose change scraped off tiled floors
Asking for a pack of smokes and a crate of Big Elm Beer
In exchange for a coffee tin filled with busted Bic razors.
Before circumstances outweigh morals
And digging deeper starts again.
Asking to stay resolute. Stubborn and true.
Until the transcendence of night melts into daybreak
And a thin slice of light appears on the shelf
Translating a world written into a new written word
Before one joins two
Then if I’m lucky three
Appearing helpless and vulnerable
Like a child with a tooth ache
Afraid to start crying
Because tears release pain
Long ago forgotten
Before the first birds chirp
And this sentence breathes complete.
