Dream Trip
After a pipe dream courtship
he married disaster. Six months gone
he woke up to
a quick divorce. He untangled himself
on the road to Vegas, where lies went down
like a cup of strong coffee
fast and black in the tarry night,
lounge tunes bleeding in air
sharp as snake-eyed desert light, hope
another bad debt to be written off.
The wind's hand shook
like a drunk croupier, fumbling out
aces and eights
before the martinis, sanding the gas tank,
whistling at graves. The car gave out
before he made Tahoe, when
nothing was left but Jack and shit
and Jack left town. Stars sarcastically
winked when he put his head down
slack on the wheel and slept
dreaming of her, dreaming of then,
dreaming a toffee-striped lizard
and a stand-up owl
laughing their asses off
at punter's luck.
September 2021
posted for
Images: Abandoned Car, author unknown, Fair Use
Lizard © Chernee Sutton-Jurutu Fair Use
