nevada

looking down at sparks
desert summer loses grip -
eastbound train starts out
(2-10)

knows th'beatty speed trap,

lets caddy fly past, get caught -

small town, summer night
(12-14)


 


houses built angled
away from sun - 's why they call
it caliente
(2-10)






eastbound train from sparks
through cold desert summer night
chills us to the bone
(~05)

th’mirror he took from

th’liberace museum

reflects th’blazing sun

(6-15)

outside enterprise
burning sun reddens the weak -
rock caves offer shade
(2-10)

a week in black rock -

he's brought the desert with him,

doesn't stop in vegas

(11-14)

unforgiving chill
desert summer night settles
miles still from elko
(1-07)






dusty old pickup -
campground host, in dunes sign's glow,
curses lost food stamps
(9-10)




august dust rises -
plane's wing turns toward vegas,
sun gets lost in haze
(8-12)

she’s ‘t th’neon boneyard –

after th’blackrock fest’val, had

t’stop ‘t th’golden slipper

(5-15) 

opp’site ‘f fame, she says –

desert camping, with th’soft glow

‘f th’boneyard stardust sign

(5-15) 

smell ‘f desert sagebrush –

something ‘bout th’glitter ‘nth’sparkle

keeps her coming back

(5-15)

neon boneyard tale -
harvest moon stirs her mem'ries
of golden slipper
(9-10)

schoolkids, dutton park –

with a straight face, they tell us -

most ‘f th’strip’’s ‘n paradise

(6-15)

on cold desert train,
dawn brings empty fall stillness
somewhere near elko
(10-08)

watching guests throw coins

in strip fountain - alas, souls' day's

just like all the rest

(11-14)

vegas stopover
flight calls to snow belt towns fade
slots' whirrs take over
(~06)





hits vegas for slots -
new years day he sees lake mead,
even quits drinking
(9-10)







delayed by new year
fog - vegas pilot's never seen
a ceiling this low
(12-10)





left his aging ma
't home on frigid plain - he rests
'neath th'old stardust sign
(9-10)





homestead dreams derailed-
toxic waste, never to thaw,
stay frozen, yucca
(1-07)




vegas pool tanner
tells of march cop convention -
he never went home
(10-08)




reno slots winner
cap full of quarters - stumbles
into march blizzard
(2-10)





came from basque country -
took a few blooming valleys
t'call nevada home
(1-14) 







she eyes th'mountain man,
come down t'reno with th'snowmelt -
all life's a gamble
(1-14)

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