College and Walnut
Cracked against the ground or the roof
Or the windshield:
Black walnuts, green on the outside
Glistening poisonous pith
Spilling happily out of its skull
Four hours on the beautiful highway
HELL IS REAL
It’s not Kentucky but that was a nice touch, anyway.
Every other billboard drew us into the lion’s den
Wasn’t there supposed to be a stone in front of that tomb?
All that for one crateful
Precious black walnuts, green on the outside
Boiling into acrid piss on the electric stovetop
In the incorruptible blue dutch oven
You and me were soldier-stanced, staring
Through the window at the hawaiian-printed front seat
A mercury key glared back at us
From behind the locked car door
There’s a twin blade razor cut right down the middle of town
Unconfused cicatrix among random slashing scars
Like tally-marks on a ribcage
Only they go one way in both directions
And they don’t cross themselves like mom says they should
Two lines cut in the earth like the lines on a young man’s face
I think one of them led to where you found the dog
We won’t pass that way again
To the sacred deep square cut-out limestone
Pools of hungry water reeking like those walnuts
Green on the outside