This Sussex County country boy knows how

to weld scrap into a cross

between a trebuchet and a carny ride

knows how to pick the perfect gourd

from his fecund field, knows how to win

the trophy of the chubby, bearded man

sportin’ a pumpkin over his head like Atlas.

 

Wants to show it off to Alice

who listens as he plucks his guitar

Ground Control to Major Tom.

His hair slicked back in a pony tail

he brushes hers into a black fall.

 

He pushes her wheelchair

down the ramp he built  

longs to hear her rattly gasp

when he catapults his orange ammo

and splits the buttermilk sky.

 

© by Liz Dolan.

Used with the author’s permission.