THIRSTY

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

so I've been walking a couple miles down

county road 22, and back; I'm a bound 

and true Romantic, and need the solace

the deep emptiness of the Texas plains

lying flat to the horizon.

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 crusty tracks

in the mud last time it rained.

In this early spring there are no crops

sown in the flat, empty fields.

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,

Fort Worth, 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

[Kelly Scheppers]

See, this is why I love your writing. You're so good, Vol! I walk everyday myself, taking pictures of trees, squirrels, crows, whatever catches my eye. It's pretty beneficial to my sciatica too, and I do find it inspires my muse, as well. Tell me, does Texas have any idea they have a residential Mark Twain in their midst? Thank you for the adventure, my friend! What a thrill it was!

[Soren]

A picture well painted and from which one can dip deep. I loved the imagery in this piece it brought me back to places I"ve lived and visited. With each item selected painting another like the birds that tell the scenery areound them. It made me thirsty for more.

[Lorry]

I like your landscapes Vol. We have similar here, although to be honest I thought schlitz went out of business decades ago.
Me and Katie walk the trails here picking up after others and it never ceases to amaze us why people come to visit for the beautybut are only too glad to leave it their own personal dumpstite!
Even the local primary school kids (aged 5 to 11) now have litter picking days and love it as they feel they are helping clean up the area and are copying their favourite grown up Katie (I don't qualify as a grown up apparently(
Just goes to show some people haven't the sense they were born with!
The one that gets me is the plastic carrier bags, because we have a tax on them to save waste and some stores charge between 20 pence and a pound for bags (between around 30 cents and a dollar thirty five) yet some meanderthals (get it, its a hiking trail) don't think twice about dumping it on the ground, only for it to fly away into the nearest tree and end its days looking like the world's most tragic kite!
(Here's an idea meanderthals, ut your garbage in the bag and put the bag in a bin you forking thinktards!)
Also, ice always wondered where amaryllis was. Watch the video to find out how annoying that song is. Funk knows why it became a hit for a comedian, but it did raise lots of money for charity.

https://youtu.be/t63CMUqo7qA?si=MinBuJx14iG0lQLw