Search & Destroy

I told you we’d be there soon,
Watched from the corner of my eye
As the life ran out of you
Making puddles of black
On the floormat
And vinyl seat covers,
Iggy & The Stooges too loud
On the stereo
A cigaret burning my fingers.

I turned left off the highway
Gunned it onto the caliche
The Mustang’s tail sliding
Sideways only to right itself
At the last second.
You didn’t look good at all
Slumped against the door
Holding your guts in with both hands.
I could smell your insides
And the stink of gunpowder
See the tiny pellets as they worked
Their way out of you
To mix with the blood and bile.

“Shit,”
You said
And you were right.

I offered you whiskey
Which you took
If only to have something to hold onto.
I thought about crying
(But only for a second)
Then changed the music
Tapping the steering wheel in time
As I pushed the needle
Into the red.

Later when I rolled you out of the car
And onto the grass,
You looked so peaceful lying there
I almost rolled out myself
To join you
To sleep the sleep of sleeps
And dream of water
While the prairie burned around us.