jagged individualism

scarcity defines the

              parameters of vision

in the outback town separated

                   by the continental divide

        from their nearest 

urban magnet

          winds blow dust and tumbleweed

up and down the alleys

               between the buildings and the

traffic lights

            a mythic pastoral pastiche

overlays the scene from afar

          on brochures of Yampa River

flowing through canyons

       while within the tensions and

conflicts reach back into the 

                legends of outlaws

catholics despise the fundies

           who return the contempt

on steroids

        brown and black faces edge

sidewalks ...school hallways...

        K- Mart aisles and the waiting

room of indigent clinic

               gays dare not come out

of their closet

               wives are trophies for

ego display

         similar to the trophy heads

on the walls of their dens

         “suped-up” half-tons

shoulder rifles on racks

      in rear cab windows

and boast nra decals on their

                  rear-ends

coffee shops buzz with

          ridicule of those

tree-huggers in cities, the

     "girlie Rav-4's" and the

"gay" liberals in the capital….

          walking town streets

is risking random shots

      fired at a sparrow innocently

chirping on a clothesline

        an ex-marine tries to impress his

twelve-year-old daughter

         with his machismo

as she pleads with him

not to shoot...

         with 87% of this county

voting for trump

can the country survive

         him and his 

bigoted testosterone

troops?