Honky Tonk Singer

Honky Tonk Singer

He was a plain as his T-shirt
with a chin squared into a don't give
me no shit determination.
He drank beer in the Dakota's,
strummed his guitar
with callused fingers
and stained the sheets
of every woman loose
enough to fit into his time table.

His words would slingshot
across the dance floor
through smoke thick enough to
chew up and spit out
but no one listened to them.
They heard only the beat
and would enjoy foot moments
believing they were
stomping out
life pains.

When the chords he picked
became only notes
of random sneezes
and his voice as stilled
as a rumpled tent in the back yard,
he became my immaculate sigh of a stars breath
and I finally could linger in his night.