a few rambling remarks from my travels. forgot the camera, forgot the journal.

the wedding

there's gonna be a church wedding, later
i've seen the billboards in splashy color
calling friends, announcements from family
i must be stuck somewhere in nowhere
cause they make flapjacks with maple
melted butter, sweets from all these plains
buzzing honeybees are talking bout the festives
it'll be like the county fair, fun and fancy
big dresses, lots of hair, coordinated
i'm nearly hyper-ventilated

reception's got this town scampering
garden club, elks and masons
boy scouts and future farmers
funerals will be postponed
timed around the high school playoffs
just gives me time to take my walk
gather flowers and my thoughts
on a day when the world goes past
never takes a sidelong look
i've been hearing voices

what will i bring these small time lovers
elvis on velvet?
sartre untranslated?
something from my old house?
old or blue, new or checked off from a list
hurt's a haphazard thing
strikes reckless
and i can't even country dance
but i've been sitting in my angry garden
wondering

don't have boots
just my daddy's funeral suit
will they laugh at this mis-matched man?
coffee and bourbon can surely do no harm
chocolates from belgium
sugar and spice
what am i made of?
throwing rice and rose petals
talking whispers with the mayor
aunts and cousins, wives and floozies
scotch is warm as summer
at a wedding

shave and shower, am i forgetting?
haven't i done this once before?
my old scrapbook's missing pages
who would take away the years?
who would tear and burn my memories
faces smiling loved and gone
were their secrets worth forgetting?
closets emptied with despair
bedrooms locked and boarded
keys i've thrown away
why do i stand here undecided
on this wedding day
?