Dallas Clayton Writer, Artist and Author of An Awesome Book.

30

30

Years back
when you were good runners
with healthy legs and full spirits
you darted out across the county
like a shot
racing toward California
to jump in the cool clear ocean
and spend the gold
they’d mined from the hills
and left in piles
on street corners
as high as a full grown man
for anyone with a spare pail
or empty bindle
to carry home and keep.

Along the way
many of you tired
broke down
turned back
stopped to see a sight
and were soon forgotten
in the wake of the dusty plain states.

Some were carried
as far as Nebraska
others dragged clean to the border.

But as the Pacific crested into view
there weren’t nearly as many left
still hoofing it out
smiles wide, hearts pumping,
as you’d expected
in those innocent
oblivious moments
before that old starter pistol
sounded its deafening call.

SALUTE

SALUTE

Is it ever going to come to pass
that someone in a uniform
asking me to do something I don’t want to do
is ever going to make me feel good.

WHO MAKES THESE THINGS WE BUY

WHO MAKES THESE THINGS WE BUY

When I was too young to dress myself
my mom used to let me pick out my accessories
from the nature store at the mall
that sold crystals and magnetic rocks
and pins that looked like actual black widow spiders.

My favorite thing then was bolo ties,
the kind that fancy colonels from the civil war had,
with the two strings draped like a folded shoe lace.

I had five or six of these
each with different animals or rocks
where the tie knotted around my neck.

I don’t know what my fixation was.
I didn’t grow up in the southwest
and I had never seen any of these ties
in actual rotation on cooler role models
who might have inspired me.

I guess I just liked the idea of being
able to wear a poisonous bug
as if that was the coolest possible
function an article of clothing could have.

My best bolo tie
had a baby scorpion
claws drawn as if on the attack
encased in a bubble of hard plastic
and frozen for all time.

I wonder if that scorpion’s family
ever thought about where their child went off to.
Probably in their wildest dreams
they wouldn’t have guessed
“hung around the neck of an uneven-toothed
nine year old, dressed up for Christmas photos
and proud as the day is long.”

CRIMSON

CRIMSON

Hooray for old women
in the check out line
who dye their hair
those frightening shades of unnatural reds
the color of cough drop packages.

Not fooling anyone
just keeping up with the rituals
as if in these final years
it’s the hair that’s really going
catch people
and spin ‘em right around
on their asses.

HEARST

HEARST

It’s too bad
about the death of the newspaper.
There were so many things inside it
we never even got to understand.

UPGRADE

UPGRADE

You’ve been taking pictures
of the same subject for so long
switching film
cameras
computers
budgets
everything different
except the model.

CHAIN GANG

CHAIN GANG

Escaping from prison
in this day and age
is an amazing feat
and deserves, I feel,
at least some recognition
on the part of the justice system
if you are apprehended again
and returned to the slammer.

VOCABULARY

VOCABULARY

Whether I like it or not
when I die
most people will probably just say
“Bummer.”

CHEETAH JEFF

CHEETAH JEFF

My son
in the bathtub
asked for a story
and so I sat beside him
on the floor
and made up a tale
about a cheetah
named Jeff
who had self-confidence issues
because he wasn’t very fast.

As stories go,
I suspect mine was cribbed
from years of television,
tales of morality,
and sporting events
I’d watched in my youth
which always finished with the crowd going wild
and someone on someone else’s shoulders.

Strange thing though,
was as I told it
I could see his young brain getting lost
in the possibilities
the same way you might get lost in a good song
and drive ten minutes out of your way
without even realizing
you were supposed to be at work.

And so
I added more
bells and whistles,
twists and turns,
near misses and upsets,
until finally
as Cheetah Jeff was on his last lap
at the Seventeenth Annual World Cheetah Championships
and about to win the gold medal
I started to tear up a bit-

Yes, I made myself cry
with my own made up story
about a fake cheetah
and a fake race
in the far off fake jungle.

This had never happened to me before
and after having finished
I was left to tuck my boy into bed
and consider the options:
A: I am a better storyteller than I previously imagined.
B: I am a more of a crier than I ever knew.
C: There are greater forces at work here.

I will let you know the answer
as soon as it’s clear.

SMALL

SMALL

Prize fighter
captain of industry
great and powerful ruler
remember
there was a day
not too far back
when someone
who loved you
washed you in a sink
just like an empty cereal bowl.

HOLY

HOLY

Even the most devout Christians
fear the day
that they might lose it
buy and old Airstream trailer
paint it up and down
with crooked drawings of jesus
and head out across the country
to preach the truckstop gospel
with no one but an old grey dog to keep them company.

PERSONALITY TEST

PERSONALITY TEST

If you really want to see who your friends are
you should have a birthday party
that requires climbing over a fence
to get there.

HUMAN RELATIONS

HUMAN RELATIONS

Certain people refer to this water
as the Persian Gulf
others the Arabian Gulf.

It is a topic of much regional debate.

To be clear
the Gulf itself
does not care what it is called
and continues to ebb and flow
at its own pace.