Type O Negative

3 days in louisiana

106 3 days in louisiana for Robert Swayzer jesus dropped the charges the o’neal twins & the holy sacrament choir blares from the car radio a carcass of something big (a dog i think) thrown on the grassy divide black blood striping the cur’s orange fur gore & fang gleaming under the strobe of moonlight & storm clouds jesus dropped the charges i was guilty to doom & disgrace but jesus with his special love saved me ...picked me up ... i knit my brows & squint attempting to transmit the image of the dead dog rotting on the rain-soaked highway to my lover 2 time zones away the silver-glow strobe & the promise of god’s grace there is only this in slidell’s only gay bar a balding pink-faced drunk 107 buys 5 other drunks another round of hurricanes & brews the drunk hovers over my shoulders & asks me about my ring whah? he bleats are you in loooove or some such shit? the drunk stumbles splashes me with chartreuse & punch he whispers into my ear rotten sweet & nicotine there is only this sugah boogah & you’d better fuckin’get used to it i imagine the drunk lying dead in the middle of the road i stop the car for a closer look his black blood striping the starched front of his weekday button down several time zones away the drunk man’s first love is startled out of his dream his childhood dog a ball of orange fur & puppy bounce scoots & runs 108 between his legs there there is only this being in love & boyhood & a narrow moonlit path stretching without end. ...