John Ringo You Damn Fool

sandwiched between a
funeral and a dead man holding
a folding hand, your giveaway shows
in the prison faces, when you buried your
daddy on the hillside at fourteen, you became
bad-mannered and mean,

hostile posse
can't catch up, not
up to speed, Johnny Ringo's
hoodoo war, harassing campaign
against your rivals, John Ringo you
damn fool, much to Old West disdain,

Cooley killed Moses,
not biblical but Baird,
Ringo's cellmate killer
of John Wesley Hardin
who feared Ringo in his
many fake poses,

outlaw chain of command
modern-day women of high
position, revenge on your tombstone
at the crotch of a tree, your revolver couldn't
outrun a firebrand's pulp fiction press much less
keep up pace with poetry of the firebrand, John Ringo
you damn fool, obituary of non-interest, god bless.

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist