Gary Cooper

sitting there with the television
providing my soundtrack

Outside
an angry exchange
as drivers
boil
no one wants to give way

My attention
drifts
I idly flick
channels
but can't switch
off

Abhor silence
need activity
need stimulus

need Jimmy Stewart
John Wayne
Bob Mitchum
Gary Cooper

The one where he plays
a baseball star who
died

Watched it on Acid
once
cried for hours

he hit a home run
for the crippled kid
kept his promise

wander if I will
make such promises
can't play
baseball
so not a
goer

a cigarette burns
I watch the smoke
drift across the
screen

all the greats smoked
looked so fucking cool
and all died of the big c
in the end

close my eyes
wander if I could
have been a cowboy
would have worn
a black hat