Those Bible Pamphlets Under My Windshield Wipers

are so
sun faded
for heaven sakes
cannabis seeds inside
god's handbill the birds
pick their stoned time day
and night

whiskey bottle
label detects the
creek's temperature
cold spirits peel those
bible pamphlets under my
windshield wipers

small town
slow - children
and deer at play
I saw her aim the pool cue
toward the phone booth outside
that number so sun faded written
in black marker on the glass

"call the reaper
here's a quarter"
she said "one for the
game slot" she handed me
another "one for the voice"

folding door
privacy I shut
it all out and paid
mountain bell a quarter
dialed the number so sun faded
I heard gossip buzz through the static
"woman they say you saved those bible pamphlets
under your windshield wipers so sun faded from my funeral
you kill me with lesbian daggers and I die again"

the operator came
on and said to insert
another coin and I hung
up the phone the twisted
steel cord throbbed - the coin
slot spit out a quarter and paid
me back my investment to hear a
cold spirit - a woman waiting to use
the phone asked me for a quarter I gave
it to her the line was dead those bible pamphlets
under my windshield wipers so faded those white pigeons
left a sacred sign on the church bell I wear the ring I hear

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, Celebrity firebrand lesbian novelist