cripple creek

       
although your shrink says you shouldn't        
you still read this        
mistaking the music for mileage        
       
I can take the blame when it's due        
I do confuse my shame for fuel        
and might just not have the chops yet        
to let the letters tell us their true names        
       
so allow me simplicity in attempting these        
       
was twenty miles down the path yesterday        
the one between the river and its road        
was twenty miles south of where        
you would put three inches of cream into decaf        
while I rolled a spliff and a cigarette        
and we would walk a slow wake to the world        
       
we must have held hands tenderly then        
before our love found psychosis        
we must have had edges in the same dream        
before our delusions lost me your smile        
       
it's not a want that has me scavenging        
along these trails for its echo        
nor is it a need to make sense        
of whatever dysfunctional test        
we clearly represent to one another        
       
it is because we will always share the end of summer        
       
and I remember exactly how the owls were perched        
over the crocodile spine of clouds        
in the lavender sky        
on the night we extended the universe