Horse-nettle Story

(2006)

A violent light
has been let out of a box
with a woman's name on
that i didn't know
writ in a man's bland typing
so i could read it quite clearly
despite th covering of sand
and bloody child's hand-print
that my imagination put there.

It can't have been easy to get to sleep that long night
before this longer winter
without sight
into th dustbowl
had passed.
Static on the sky
television
blind lack-of-colour on the horizon
when th blast of hot air hit
hard
and
and
..and nothing after that mostly.

Desert flowers open gradually,
with pessismism.
Late laughing insects come and tell them to
cheer up.
I brush dust from th skull of a dead farm animal
fill beakers full of water
write empty notes,
repeating what we've already learnt
and crawl back to th vehicle
to be certain of my medical insurance details.

crawl back