god's Branding Iron: Alternative Outpost of Eden

hospitable coals hot
as hell about to leave
their mark, god's buckskin
glove with a good fit tight with
what's right, above flies the dove,

lesbians throw
off the bunkhouse
quilt, ranch wives sponge
bathe their pasture land, last
night's sex tongue and hand, whiskey
roost under the spell of the grouse,
 
god's branding
iron sits upon unified
coals, prayer rod blessed
after night of the foal religion
died, calf down on the ground
back legs tied, dust, sweat and
blood, god rising with the sun, leather
tooled holster embossed with crosses
cinched around his waist promoting his
gun, "shoot, Luke, or give up the gun!" he
tells Luke, "hypocrisy burns the soul, polish
off the brass from the dross, alchemy of the
brand old west scripture in thy hand."

lesbian ranch
taste the dirt, smell
the smell, saddle and rope
south of heaven, west of hell,

religion razes and
burns the process of
the cause, afternoon shower
not enough to cleanse the dark stain
of blood, casual indifference to the contribution
of demise; god brands the golden calf of the hour
and says, "Man, you wouldn't believe these lesbians'
casa, alternative outpost of Eden."

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist