Jack Rabbit
by
Rawclyde
!
God this, God that, God everything & damn it too
the end of reality’s trail & everything else that’s true
the last frontier of hard facts and how-do-you-do’s
I stood on a hill in deep desert & all I had was ‘de blues
~
Find yourself a woman, lad, and work for a living too
make sure she’s a good woman who will always stand by you
raise some kids or corn and ply your trade on the avenue
or you’ll end up standing amongst the cacti with nothing else to do
~
I stood there hard and long concentrating on every thorn
but no angel arrived blowing music on a golden horn
all was quiet but a little wind, no birds, just some ants
crawlin’ around aimlessly lookin’ for someone with whom to dance
~
I trudged back to the truck, crunching the desert turf along the way
opened the doors to the book-store in the rear without much to say
figured I’d sell a book or two if a miracle happened to stray
but there was nobody around but me on this fine lonely day
~
Nobody but a million catatonic cacti with not much to offer but a thorn
stretching off into the distance come evening and come morn
I sat in the wind & the blood of my brain ~ t’was a mournful song
and then, and then, suddenly, a rabbit come lopin’ along
~
T’was the biggest I’d ever seen, about the size of a dog
a jack rabbit who fit no-ways in any kind of catologue
he wasn’t at all shy like other rabbits in other scenes
when he stopped & asked me, “Have you got any books on human beings?”
~
Stunned, I replied, “I have books on coyotes and snakes
cacti, deserts, rivers, God and whatever it takes
to get along with anything including killer bees
but, but all I have on human beings are fantasies”
~
The rabbit sadly bowed his head, loped away and disappeared
I said to a fly buzzing around my hat, “that was really weird”
closed up the store, bent low to tie one of my worn-out shoes
climbed behind the wheel, bumped on outta them deep desert blues…
~
1999