in this town

i’m sleeping under every green light for the dream of your ponytail / your lipstick teeth falling on asphalt like rain from the bed of a pickup / in this town / too many weathervanes point south / strange miracles happen after the butcher hangs his holsteins & then himself: / tent revival in the bowers of a band t-shirt / drive-in feature about a girl dreaming of showers turning on in the middle of the night / still / boys asking for my last pack of cigarettes / what it means to listen to a walkman full of sounds / men dropping hammers & picking them up / your father has built enough homes this year to invite everyone over / anyone out drinking tonight who swerves to hit me / who notices the oil stain on my jeans resembling bones / quiets my body’s need to be every inch traffic camera & fluorescent tape / in this town / the toast is for girls never burning right / never yellow or red / for fathers living as long as a parked car on fire / i do not know if it is good: / your hands still teaching my hands knife / the moon low enough / every car wreck has a lover / every guardrail / a place to weigh our heads.