The silences grow taller
the other end of the line

Sporadic punctuation
of human exclamation

"Katie?"
"Doc?"
"You there?"
"You going?"
"You gone?"

Cards, shuffling through
faint honky-tonk

. . .

Saddle up
at least once more
and ride like hell

in pursuit of unattainable
sanity, joy,
"calme, luxe et volupté"

just hoping the storm
won't rise, blow you under

not too far down at least
for the tribe

to dig up bones, doings, sayings
of the once happy beast