THIRSTY

I'm old and too fat for my own good,

so I've been walking a mile down

county road 22, and back; I'm a 

bound and true Romantic, 

and need the solace.

The landmarks today are seventeen beer cans,

one a Schlitz, six water bottles, two Dr. Peppers,

seven longnecks, and a forty-ounce King Cobra

malt liquor. Apparently, in Texas, the ground

isn't the only thing that's thirsty…

There is a shattered mylar balloon,

a bag from wallyworld, and one plastic fork.

Tomorrow there will be less evidence,

and by the time I'm ready to turn home,

maybe none at all, at least for a little while.

I think tomorrow I'll carry a sack to speed

the process, so I can pay more attention to that

new badger burrow by the fence, and those

prickly pear with the inch long thorns,

or spot the coyote that left tracks

in the mud last time it rained.

Another thing I've noticed is no birds,

not on the fences, the power lines, or

soaring. The pastures stretch as far

as I can see in every direction, but

there are no cows or horses, either;

everything seems dead except the wind.

A train from north, or south rumbles

beside highway 287 headed to Amarillo,

Dallas, or maybe Houston and stacked

with shipping containers, or pulling

a couple hundred cars of coal.

At the house, the pressure tank

beside the well pump is water-logged

and won't quit running; it's been forty

years since I had to deal with that, so we

called the man to come and save me

from breaking something. Water is too

important to do without because it has

been three months since the last rain,

and Texas is as thirsty as the rest of us.

Reviews

[Marie]

It is little wonder that Texas is dry after not having rain for the past twelve weeks! A nicely penned poem which very effectively narrates the story of no birds to be seen, the refuse left behind, the trains carrying coal or shipping containers, no cows or horses to be seen either and everything seems to be dead apart from the wind. I presume this is because of the drought, Vol? You have captured the scenario eloquently in both word and depiction. Lovely work! I hope rain falls very soon and Texas is no longer thirsty. Thank you for sharing...

[Vol]

Marie,
As a matter of fact, it is raining right now. I came over here from Tennessee for the first time for Thanksgiving in 1998, The main topic of conversation was the twenty-year-old drought. Nothing has changed. One year it rained the last time on September 16, and did not rain again until June... broke all the records. We get about 20 inches per year, mostly from April till September. You would be amazed at all the shades of brown. Thank you for all your kind words, m'lady!
Vol

[Marie]

Oh, so happy the rain has visited at last, Vol. That is wonderful news. Gosh! A 28 year drought! That must have been unbearable. Oh, I can only imagine all the beautiful colours and so many different shades. Most welcome always. Thank you again for sharing, Vol...

[Vol]

Ha! It rains about 70 days a year, so divide that into 19 inches... Many times, it will rain an inch, but next day we'll have eight hours of dry wind to suck everything dry again.

[Marie]

Oh, dear! The wind dries up all the rain and everything is dry again...

[Vol]

Many times... the humidity here runs between 4 and 40 percent...

[Marie]

That is amazing, Vol...