Carmen is a Cat

Ode to Upchurch

"I like my poems. They’re
as good as rocks." - Alice Notley, Mysteries of Small Houses

Bud had all boys
across from Whitehead's
furniture store where Pegasus
delivered lightning
when we stopped 
to fuel the Impala.
I didn't know then what I know now,
and we trusted all those boys of his
not to jerk us around.
We shoulda asked Juanita.
Dad clutched and signed
a slip and moved on,
drunk or not, you all moved on
lunging left and right
pulling out and pulling in
to the Hitching Post
next door with a real one
right out front.
Patio orange for the kids,
blood and bar towels for the rest.
All those ponies and Medusa
riding shotgun, near the wheel.