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[ WWW ] The Gunslinger's Story
Skeleton resting
against a boulder;
another cowboy
having lived and died
Empty canteen
slung across shoulder
Rusted sixgun holstered
at each side
Somewhere on the blazing horizon
galloping through a mean cactus maze
the stallion he was content to ride
melting into its haze . . .
where legendary outlaws hide
Alternating between
moon and sun beams
desire remains ever-present
in hollow sockets of his skull
full of cold silver prospects
and fiery gold daydreams
A cautionary tale to be told
is spoken by the wisest of old souls
dressed in traditional native attire
sitting in a worn lawn chair
left of this desert-ed corpse
now propped up and adorned
with dime store spectacles
To the right:
a dead scorpion
impaled by a nail
decorating a wooden
sign staked in the dirt
Scrawled across it,
WISDOM FOR SALE
ONE DOLLAR
Waving an eagle feather
the Indian says,
For all the dollar signs in his eyes
Gunslinger had not any sense---
his vision of untold wealth
left him too farsighted to grasp
bugs crawling on mesa rocks
resembling crawdads in creek
were venomous like asp
or any other snake
rattling about the desert
Producing a shoe box filled with
cheap magnification glasses
he adds,
Five dollars each
Retrieving six singles from my wallet
---If there is a moral to this story
fuck if I see it
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