Middle America
The vultures are eating something nasty
Middle of the road
Route 66
So we stop to watch and catch our breath
While behind us and all around
Steel gray cloud bombs build
And thunder sounds far away
But isn’t
And the acrid smell of lightening
Burns away the hairs in your nose
Before the sweet taste of rain
That washes blood and intestines
Into the culvert
Side of the road
Route 66
And I start driving again;
We cross a bridge
Somewhere deep in middle America
Dry creek bed sucking up the rain
Like soda through a straw
And we don’t know where we’ll sleep tonight
And we don’t care.
__________________________________
They came and took the baby
When she was only 4 weeks old
A tiny brown mewling kittenish thing
All wrapped up in a pink blanket
Sheltered against fall’s cool winds
And muted sunshine
They bought me a house
Brick with a yard and a fence
I got a dog
My daughter grew
And didn’t know me
She came to visit and played with the dog
I painted her toenails and fixed
Peanut butter and jelly bagel sandwiches
And brought her back home
To a pink bedroom in a house
That wasn’t mine
They thought they were doing what was right
What was best
They thought that they could cure anything with prayers
And Sunday school hymns
And it wasn’t until she tried to fuck her 6th grade gym teacher
That they knew better–
That blood will always be thicker than water
That you can put somebody in a cage of gold
You can fluff and shine and pat and pretty
You can say the right things and banish the demons
But they will always come back
And the cage can’t contain
And my daughter will always be my daughter
Wild as a wolf-child
Chewed up fingernails and dirty underpants
It’s classic nature versus nurture
It’s survival of the fittest
Darwin had it right all along
Baby girl, you are mine.
deuce coupe 