The Valley

We watch the sun switching in the sky, off and on, where

our friend stands bleeding on the late summer lawn, a

slicked back bloody black gunshot to the head. He has

fallen in the valley of the rock and roll dead.

I hear a breeze that wheezes through the tips of the pines,

where there's laughter and screaming to the rafters in the

night. The moon rolls dreaming through the late spring

sky, where our friend lies bleeding through his jacket and

tie. A slit throat makes a note like a raw winter wind. We

were piled in the river with the rock and roll skinned.

Like the water loves lapping at the skin of the shore, hear

our friend come tapping at the latches on the door. Like a

foot slips, slapping on the ladder's last rung, we were

thrashing in the clatter of the rock and roll hung.

It's just a loud crowd crush. It's just a thrush, seen flying

through the late autumn dusk for the very last time. It's

just a busted-up body in the dust of the last road out of the

city, when the city explodes. Light grows, and the light

grows bright, and red-tinged. We were fallen on the

border with the rock and roll singed. Times ten. Times

ten. Times ten. Times ten. Times ten. Times ten. Times

ten. Times ten. Times ten. Times ten.