Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Marlboro Man



The Marlboro Man, addled with love poems,

Begins to act strangely...

He treats his horse like a house pet

And sits at home in the afternoons,

Watching Oprah and Rachael Ray.


Sick of sagebrush,

He trades in his old black skillet

For a dream kitchen.

"For god's sake pull yourself together" nags his cigarette-steeped sister

As her kids finger his figurines.


He quits smoking,

Gives up huckstering.

The Lesbians next door buy him a rainbow

--a real one!--

Which he places in the yard between the trellis

And the barbecue.


In the evenings,

There is the sound of Gato Barbieri drifting from his windows;

No buttes

No diamondback rattlers.

Just

The Marlboro Man

Reading the Advocate

In the peace of the almost midnight.

_________________

6 comments:

  1. For me, this is a masterpiece. It is just so clever and poignant and even if it made one person think twice, it has done its job. Well done Shay! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you, K. Your comment means a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "As her kids finger his figurines."

    "The Marlboro Man
    Reading the Advocate
    In the peace of the almost midnight" ... Yeah, of course he can't sleep because he's turned himself into something he's not. It's the grown-up thing to do, after all.

    ReplyDelete

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