HIGH NOON

I referenced this event earlier...

I was crazy when I was six
years old, a Robin Hood cowboy
explorer, finder of tadpoles,
eater of tomatoes hot off the vine.
I was barely more than a bud on
Mama’s peach tree, and my
memories are as clear as mountain
air because I had more words than
Dickens. Words are bullets, I have
been a gunfighter all my life,
locked and loaded with a belt
full of reloads.

That’s why, when I think back,
things don’t come clean. There
is too much blood, too many bodies.
Can you see me standing tall?
There I am! Legs spread, arms out,
ready to fire, my gun in one hand,
a Nikon in the other.

Oh!
That camera doesn’t miss a thing!

Like when I did a first grade
belly-flop from six feet up,
smack on the packed earth,
my breath blasted to nothing,
my mind in shards, and
the sonic boom of a terror nova
in my face, my happy boyhood
at the bottom of some great hole…

PANIC!

How long was I in that grave?
Long enough for lightening to
gather in that instant and shoot
from my eyes, long enough to
look for angels, or Satan, in the
empty dark. Time enough to
shake hands with the white light.

Mom taught me how to shoot,
she was calm when she said
those Colt.45 words. Words
fired from the double barrels
of soft brown eyes, hot as fire.
Branding iron hot.

“Walk it off, kid, you just got
your breath knocked out.”

“But...but…but…”

“Now go on back outside and play.”

I pushed through the swinging doors,
had a lemonade at Lisas’ Longbranch,
mounted my ole Appaloosa,
and rode off into the sunset.

Tweedle Deedle Deeeee, Da Da Da!

Reviews

[Lorry]

Yeah Vol. They don't make 'em like they used to.
We were even bulletproof back then for a while, at least until we broke a something and realised we were fallible and things could have ended much worse for us and our caped crusades.
I remember a time when Evel Kneivel was all the rage and I decided to try out his tricks on my non rocket powered bike.
I checked the path in the minutest detail for any hindrances to my ultimate new world record, swept any crisp bags the wind blew my way and had it sussed in my head, to gather pace along the path that was at the side of my childhood home and then bunny hop from the first tier of the back garden, onto the second tier which had a dreaded flower garden to break it up, which my mum would have broke me up If I so much as looked at it the wrong way. But just as I launched from the first tier, I wished I'd paid as close attention to all my surroundings and not just the path, as the washing line near garroted me, sending my bike and glasses onward, while leaving me dangling in mid air, before hitting the ground in a most inappropriate way!
My career of derring do was short lived, but how those imaginary Crowds in my head cheered! 😊

[Vol]

Lorry!
I think it would make a GREAT children's book to collect everyone's traumatic crashes illustrated like those of our childhood...
Vol

[Lorry]

In my head I was the cartoon Coyote who hung maid air when running over cliffs. I never caught the roadrunner either, but I smacked into my own fair share of tunnels painted onto rocks! 😊

[Vol]

If you can find it, there was a great television series some time ago... "Brisco County Junior," it was a Western/SciFi where in at least one episode, a tunnel was painted on a rock with excellent consequences. and the love interest "Dixie Cousins," might be the hottest chick to ever grace the screen.
Vol

[Lorry]

Yeah, it took me all of four seconds to find Dixie! 😊

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8N_5ZvZ_3Bk&pp=ygUeYnJpc2NvIGNvdW50eSBqciBkaXhpZSBjb3VzaW5z

[Vol]

Lorrry,
HAHAHAHA!... I wasn't lying...
Vol

[Lorry]

Yep! She was a babe indeed, an a la Daosie Duke
And who knew Bruce Campbell had a career that didn't involve zombies?
Not this soldier! That's who! 😊

[Vol]

Lorry,, if you can find it, Brisco County Junior is a happy escape...

[Lorry]

Will do 😊

[Arundass TP]

A long interesting poem, enjoyed reading 🙂

[emmajoygreen]

This flew and flowed start to finish, laughed me, amazed and impressed me: what a glorious post - story is a mini biopic. Because of a good size font could hear the words too!! Your boyhood seemed free hand and wild, sir.: an lens user, creative, PLUS,what seems to be extraordinary that a lad knew how to use a gun! Some great phrases here,

' Time enough to
shake hands with the white light''

'I had more words than
Dickens. Words are bullets, I have
been a gunfighter all my life,
locked and loaded with a belt
full of reloads.'

An Appaloosa ?!

[Cherrie Palmer]

You know when we were children anything and everything could blend into a story. Whether it is a necessity or a compulsion paper must be found or at least a willing ear.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

We survived then, we won at war games, we were invincible as kids.
We have many photos in our memory from thosse days...crystal clear pictures of playtime.
But as we age, too many things happen that we want to blot out...we want the negatives so we can take back some of those memories and have them redeveloped into fair tales that had happy endings.
That was then, this is now...as we sit back in our easy chairs and wonder why life wasn't so easy.
j.