Arizona 2026

~

from

A Ghost Town Called Love

by rawclyde!

2012

~

I, the ghost, glided outta there

hoovered by the hotel for a while

meditating

’til I noticed across the street

that the sheriff had hung another old girl-friend o’ mine

   from the hanging tree in front of his office…

~

I had asked him to stop doing that

but he’d done it again anyway

the corpse’s tattered dress

baring one smooth shoulder & her thighs

flapped like a flag

and the branch creaked like a harmonica

   as the sun sank behind a weathered building…

~

I found him locked inside a jail cell

contemplating his cowardism above a candle flame

“why’d you do that?” I howled

“She ruined your life,” retorted the sheriff

I shook miserably in the shadows of his office

emotionally wiped out I sat on the corner of his atilt desk

& moaned

   “She’s a dream that’ll never die.”

~

(Copyright Clyde Collins 2012)

~