river of blood
ghost town waiting
fire heated copper when
pennies poured truth is cheap
manifested destiny even before
it was coined hoofpick pried a horse's soul
free of mud instant disapproval of the mission
priests again
not losing the rights to a mine
and gaining the walls of adobe
the great spending days hard coin
and hard time campfire shadows lit
up the ghost of wickedness it couldn't
remove damaged nerves haunting too evil to see
wagon wheel ruts ten inches deep sleeping with the
enemy in hell's pit
a week without a bath
her lungs full of dust
if you don't meet the devil
every now and then you're traveling
in the same direction the distinctive
hair styling of his sideburns outlined
in flames he was riding away from the same
house she was riding to the whore had a deeper
meaning hidden in her cleavage the quickest way
to double her money was to fold it over and put it
in her bust
women strike gold
her western films have
the ability to suspend life
as we know it when the last credit
rolls the audience knows they were the
greatest stories ever told
a simpler era
so much more to the story
challenging and at the mercy
of the elements commonplace her skills
to persevere—the bonds the guts and the glory
it makes her stronger of what not kills more of
the accomplishment than what pays the bills
Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, Celebrity firebrand lesbian novelist
Ron