byLuci Tapahonso
- who were you that night
after all the beer you drank that long winter day
- who were you?
angry at nothing and everyone- you drove too fast for the winding canal road
- swerving to the very edge
where darkened weeds shivered in your rage- i followed you
- my pleading a hardened ache
you took the night in shreds
- white clouds of breath hung in between screams
the terror of a sudden billow of dustbut the pickup spun and stopped crosswise
- not into the ditch no
on the road fading yellow light spilling out
dust and brakes causing dogs
- to bark with a hoarse urgency
- frozen mud glistening
who were you that night?
- crumbling as you stumbled
through cold, stinging bushes
and how did you fall
- did you slip on a transparent beer bottle?
(They catch the sharp light of the moon
and at a certain angle, even the stars)
or did you slip on a rock
flat and round
slick with winter frost?
who were you that night dying in angry drunkenness?
- hard, winter stars
motionless in
the crisp dark night
the moon, the white moon
From A Breeze Swept Through by Luci Tapahonso, West End Press.
© 1987 Luci Tapahonso