Rocking Memoir 

Hotel Nugget, 
Now but a cat and mouse residency, 
Ghost town memories catching still-night breezes 
As hypnotic rocking begins its ritual, 
Bramble bush audience tranquil in the streets, 
Making room for snake and scorpion of little bother. 

An owl atop the saloon’s tin roof blinks, 
And like a surreal opera chorus, 
Stairways creak, 
Brothel’s shredded curtains flap, 
Left-behind jail-keys jingle timidly 
Windmill squeaks its hunger for oil, 
All becoming a melodious accompaniment, 
Knowing well the faithful and sometimes cranky hotel proprietor, 
Sadie Dershowitz 
Nugget’s self-appointed diva, 
Its one of a kind anomaly, 
Especially in 1853 Goldy Town, 
Will rock on what once was. 

Need a room? 
Need a girl? 
Need some shoeing? 
Need me? 

C’mon 

Somebody must need me, 
Laments the lonely immigrant 
Staking a claim to her own destiny, 
Chanting tributes to her settler friends, 
Her secret sadness for the freedom dreamer,s 
The German, 
Irish, 
Chinese, 
Italians, 
Needing little of a gold town’s riches, 
Wanting only the liberty to be. 

So little tolerance, 
Then, 
And now. 

Sadie died in her rocker, 
A casualty of her time. 
But unlike today… 

Her dying day 
Remained proud. 
She’d been given a chance 
Like other stalwart travelers 
Willing to pave their way. 

Sadly, 
Today, 
Illegal aliens on foot, 
Willing by any means 
To earn their stay, 
Face many roads across America, 
Seemingly in perpetual political wash-out

Tumbleweeds still breathin’.