MiPo Poetry Board Best of 2002

 
no trail of tears

Jack slipped in to his rainwalker
snapped the snaps tightly and
tossed on his wool beret
he hesitated, she would be
still be getting ready, and
he had forgotten his cologne
splash a little ‘spirit of the wild’
he thought, let the scent speak
for him, he smiled, rinsed his
hands and walked to the garage
the candy apple red Cherokee
was dusty, did he have time,
no, he slid behind the wheel
and noticed the package of
red man chewing tobacco
damn, can’t have that out,
slipped it under the seat as
the garage door swung open,
and he backed out on the street.
he chuckled, deer park subdivision,
what a name, no deer had been
seen here in a decade, wild
life here was a dead hawk
stuffed on his work bench.
up north, yeah, there were
deer up north and on his last
trip to the Upper Peninsula
he had spotted wolf, two
along the Seney stretch.
but not here, the closest thing
to the wild was the dance
after the Friday night fish
fry at the Lodge with his
Elk brothers and their wives
fish, fries, and lots of beers
and they became the odiferous
‘brothers of the wind’, but
not tonight, not with julie.
julie he wanted to keep,
and the Elks wouldn’t be
the key to her love, no.
tonight they would dine
and dance at the new club
‘sister earth, brother sky’
a new age vegan restaurant
and dance club, out on the
new bypass. they would
cha cha, tippy too, ghost
dance, tango and any other
new or old steps she might
teach him. tonight he could
climb mountains, be an eagle
and fly above them, become
the very cliché of anyone
in as much love as he was.
and there would be no
trail of tears for anyone
to follow him home

IBPC
Poems that represented MiPo in
The InterBoard Poetry Competition
Inspired by a Challenge
Poems written for poetry challenges from the various forums.
We Love You
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Poems recognized by a founder or moderator.
Poetry Board
MiPo Zines
Comments