Where some things were just as I feared, simple, but the stars came crawling out, not so shy like all the little girlies got ‘em stuck in their eyes, and if the man from the TV they spotted they’d all drop their drawers. When we came down spyin’ for a spot o’ land I hated it so far from the city more than a mile from the nearest neighbor, so I kept my earphones tucked in my lobes, while strange shadows fell the night come on early like a young man eager to reach second base. It was awkward. It was pretty, but not so pretty to me at first. And no one came to the house. I didn’t want to see it, but would recognize it anywhere now. I would’ve stole that country boys record, but he didn’t have a one I gave a —— about. I just knew this patch of Mississippi mud this was a place to visit your uncle on the Fourth of July not a place to set up camp for more than a few nights even though the old woman in the Fred’s parking lot smiled at me, a stump, thick trunk of cigar smoldered between us like some cancerous cabin- the exhaust from the Dooley clogged with the snore of some great mythical creature; the parents put their kids to bed with stories of his to show their tiny tots- I slept those first nights so far from the familiar crackle of criminals and cops the silence- I sat up and listened for sirens- their screams scattering so you’d swear you’d see them any second splashing their blaze and blue and red bounding back forth back forth- I didn’t hear a single solitary one . That’s what I was missing . Is that what I was waiting on? I wake today, breaks, loyal lantern, leading the morning to his high hill. Hot as heather embers eaten up in the farmers fires feeding on the elder crops. Configuration consumes the corn stocks crackling like the city gunshots pop pop pop. I can’t complain. I convince myself with that city Slickers, fast talking confidence. - country roads, rustic roots, reach out pairing the Pines monitoring bewitched the wood, and the Walmart. The mayor promised the peasants of progress.(and profits.) The Baptist preacher baptized, the babies in the lake out back ; he prophesied the properties and priorities ain’t all it’s pretending to be, Amen, and friend, even I can believe that. Pass around the plate and bless their best Sunday dress. Bow their bows and blossoms blooming on those big old oversize hats. I try not to attract attention as they shake hands and hum hymns; “heavens to Betsy” -“y’all come back”- I bow my head reverently and slip out the back, where the world and all its ways were waiting to welcome me like a prodigal son. But you wouldn’t believe but blinking neon signs are banned deemed obscene and the town closes down promptly at 10:15 . Seems…. Extreme.(surely the frightened forefathers were thinking the exact same thing when they passed them whole Bill of Rights/Constituion things.). I thought I was wrong. That’s what the looks all told me locked in like the loitering Cowboys,cowboy-killer softback smokes stuffed in their sleeves, snug as the smug smirk on the mug of the mullet mopped mama makin’ change, afraid of change all the same; all she says to me is, “shame. They don’t take quarters at the bondsman’s.” “Thanks,I think.” The folks don’t lock the doors to vehicles down here no bars, barricade the windows.- I wonder where I am and what I am doing… South of Memphis. South of Memphis….. I let the cool air come in- just a crack- and the cedars sent is sweet as a kiss from a secret crush- I keep it caress, my country companion, and close my eyes with a comfort I cannot define. Divine.. The schools as the towns mascot- tall and on everyone’s tongue- the big game this Thursday tickets gotta get one fun, fun fun; I bumped into a boy by the name of Charlie boy, everyone knew Charlie Charlie chewed a plug of big as the beer cans decorating the bumpers of the teens Toyota trucks; he hawked a rocket of snot shot out of his snout and he hard handed me on the back boy did he jawed an educated chest at my last expression, and just told it to me straight as the squad of cheerleaders standing on the sidelines said-“THATS how we spit down here. - (It also became very clear how they feel about queers and John Deere.) I walked away, wondering why I was still here and premonitions of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper played out well when I walked in the Walmart wearing a worn pair of pants and G.G. Allin T-shirt; more than just a few feelings got hurt; and the half of them hillbillies and half of them, Hicks all held their hands to their lips or held the hands of their kids mighty quick. We were sharing the same simple thought- Sick, Ignoring the ignorant, rashes glazed over gees, gaping gun, toting, gentlemen and green girls giggling getting a gander at this strange stranger. “ a sight if I ever seen it.”But I took off my tennis sneakers and started through the barbed wire “beware”- and went exploring; to nurture this nature of need to discover, South of Memphis.
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