Leaving Nashville
[For optimal results, read this aloud, with your best “Country” accent]
Dolly Parton has vacated my soul
the essence of Merle and even Loretta
neither weeps nor seeps from the pores of my skin
my ears are not plugged with barroom vomit
and my tongue no longer speaks Pedal Steel
kicking off their shit-stompers my fingers have ceased
to buck dance the neck of my six-string
the cells of my body are not honky-tonks
nor my heart an old pickup truck Daddy once gave me
my eyes have grown blind now to sequined reflections of
Mama
Texas small farm harmonicas
Broken-hearted barmaid jealousies
washed in whiskey infatuations
and the Blood of the Lord
my jaundiced, overtaxed liver now rests
from detoxification of lyrics encrusted with
sap
saccharin
indigestible corn
crucifix in hand, intoning Latin incantations
my blood has at last exorcised the Johnnies
Paycheck
&
Cash