THE FASTEST GUN IN THE WEST
for todd moore
you were the bone wind that slid inside the hand
that slapped the holster faster than anyone else
you were the one for whom the poem was a gun
whose words were bullets whose page was blood
you were the brother of the thunder the brother
of the lightning unleashing your storm your cross
fire chaos you were the fastest gun in the west
albuquerque to santa fe to taos dodge city to
great bend to pueblo you loaded your gun with
word bullets loaded your gun with sepia bullets
of old western movies sequences of lone riders
on the horizon sequences of ghost horses down
by the river sequences of the crashing thunder
by adobe huts and coyote skulls by barbed wire
fences you were the fastest gun in the west
you loved the mountains because you were a
mountain bullets ricocheting through canyons
it’s a hard bullet it’s a word bullet that bullet
talks so fast skeletons dancing on the day of
the dead the mean old lonesome train singing
again a blue yodel that echos on the tracks
yes you were the fastest gun in the west
the backroads of those little towns in new
mexico where you ran across enchiladas
tostadas burritos nachos huevos rancheros
washed down with ice cold beer on a
verandah overlooking a shotgun sky a
blood-filled sky a crazy tornado sky
yes you were the fastest gun in the west
where lions roar where coyotes howl
where jaguars stroll where spiders spin
their webs you spun the gun of language
and ripped to shreds the stagnation of
those who carried death burning like a
wildfire you were the fastest gun in the west
I’m still trying to figure Todd out, but Tony
this seems about as close as any . . . . .
very very good
thank you
MW