Romeo

Dan Ames

                 

at the back of the barn

we met the girl from Romeo

hair limp and straight

and vaguely blonde

 

skin very white and bold

aggressive even

we wish we could remember more

but the cows were balling

 

the roof of the barn lifted off

and we were faced with moonlight

a shadowy and slippery figure

dashing in and out

 

it’s tough to be 

one of the harder customers

in a farm full of chickens

and neutered lambs

 

fill the slop troughs

with your soggy oats

and messy mysteries

just solve the damn thing

 

but it isn’t going to happen

because you’ve got the thoughts

of an angel ascending

and a demon shrinking from the truth

 

crawl back into your minivan

and drive the long narrows

with a jaw that’s clenched

but pure and uninfected

 

your thoughts of the barn

however are like the amish

driving along in their buggies

simple and unsoiled