TENDERFOOT

Civilization

Ended after you left me

At that diner

To finish the rest of the onion rings

Where

On the western edge of Nebraska

Curious and menacing

This group of men

With no legs

Pursued me

Through deserted, post-apocolyptic prairie towns

Past shattered fives-and-dime

Where nervous young women peered from behind

Mustard-yellow shutters

Men with no legs

And shiny red faces, the color of wax around cheese

Kerchiefs

Tied to their necks like gunslingers

...

My mama always said

"Pump your gasoline and get out

"No good comes to folks who linger

In filling stations"

That

Is what I think of

My mom

And your parting sneer

On the run

From these bellowing wheelchairs

JDiego Frey--August 18, 2000