Home Page
TEXT
Text section Audio section Gallery section Video section Online Shop New items
Search this site Site Index RSS
Home » Text » Guest Poets » John Stammers

Prairie Rose

Inside my dream the towns fall by us one by one:
Laredo, Rocky-Neck and Sprute.
I am asleep beneath the jury-rigged tarpaulin
in the night cot of your cousin's mobile home,
the air thick as corn soup.

The tire noise slackens as we pull in at
a drowsy joint called Maria Eleana's.
Her jukebox sings dobro and Hank
and an outfit called The Tuscaloosa Boys.
The intricate needlework on your boots
twinkles like pinpricks in black card
and the liquefaction
of your denim bolero
as it sidles to a blue-grass waltz
hits me over the heart like a high calibre round.

'Wake up, wake up,' you shook me,
'there's a tornado headed this way.'
And I saw that Satan's index finger
doodle devastation along the highway.
'Kansas this aint, Rose.' I explained,
'and there's no way home.'
'But we are home.'

Text

    Other Authors:
    • Guest Poets
      • Kapka Kassabova
      • Stephen Edgar
      • Olivia Cole
      • John Stammers
        • House on the Beach
        • Weather Report
        • The Day Flies off Without Me
        • Between a Rock and a Hudson
        • Prairie Rose
        • Nom de Plume
        • Impression
        • Furthermore the Avenue
        • The Other Dozier
        • Breakages
      • Isobel Dixon
      • Judith Beveridge
      • Peter Goldsworthy
      • Alan Jenkins
      • Christian Wiman
      • Les Murray
      • Liane Strauss
      • Simon Barraclough
      • Peter Porter
      • Jamie McKendrick
    • Guest Writers
    • Prose Finds
    Clive James:
    • Articles since 2005
    • Lectures and Speeches
    • Current Books
    • Books Out of Print
    • Lyrics
    • Poems
    • Poetry Notebook
    • Articles on Poetry
    • Author, Author

        Top  
    • About
    • Contact
    • Copyright
    • Index
    • Search
    • Site Map