for John Dorsey
With two sips taken. Also, you will need
A candy slipper from well before the war.
It helps if the slipper has been saved in a
Canning jar, protected by diligent mice
In a shadowy, spider-filled attic corner.
An oven is not necessary, but you must
Have wet mittens and imagine warming
Them dry over a prairie campfire at dusk.
There’s a star above a grassy knoll every
Cowboy is born under. You don’t need to
Know this to bake a perfect cake. Though
You might need to know this if any tattoo
On your body references the code of the west.
Mike James makes his home outside Nashville, Tennessee and has published widely. His many poetry collections include: Red Dirt Souvenir Shop (Analog Submissions), Journeyman’s Suitcase (Luchador), Parades (Alien Buddha), Jumping Drawbridges in Technicolor (Blue Horse), First-Hand Accounts from Made-Up Places (Stubborn Mule), Crows in the Jukebox (Bottom Dog), My Favorite Houseguest (FutureCycle), and Peddler’s Blues (Main Street Rag.) He served as an associate editor of The Kentucky Review and currently serves as an associate editor of Unbroken.
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