Small Town Walk

walking
street to street
from party to party
ask around
to find the best one
"it is at Mikes"
"which Mike?"
"Tall Mike"
15 minutes, or less
with the big striding
small town walk
my campfire girl says:
"slow down
you walk too fast"

1988

us boys
walking the streets
big striding
in jeans n'plaid shirts
shot the knees out clean
with pellet guns
ragged, rock n'roll

Tragically Hip tape
humming, hissing, in the deck
"Blow at High Dough"
our anthem
got everybody singing
hollering every word
with our best Gordie voice

drive out some
dusty dark country road
to party in a field
pretty girls, faces lit
with campfire glow
sipping beers,
catching her smiles

bottles pile
fire burns low
time to go
getaway before
drunken fists swings
to ruin the perfect
smalltown night

Winter 5.0

little deeper in the woods today
out as far as the valley
deer runs across the open
jumps the fence
back into the forest

16 wild turkeys
black and huge
move along
the frozen creek

makes me think of whiskey

Winter 4.0

snow steady for four days
wind whips around the house
piling, drifting
shovel bends with the weight
back aches, sweat freezes

Winter 3.0

frost seeps
in through the cracks
snow rips
in under the door
beers burst
in the garage

Winter 2.0

coffee spilling freezing
in a white instant
on the hood of my van
ungraded papers falling,
whirling in the snow
I bend down
and gather them up
to my left
I see red
frozen blood
at the foot of the door

Winter 1.0

cold in the forest this morning
wind whips up the back of my coat
snowflakes vanish
into the black of my coffee
dog runs back inside