By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 30 March 2000
No Small Thing
for the past billion years I have been collecting dust
in Texas bars and dance halls
watching my sister and mom and friends
with envy
as they two stepped and waltzed across floor after concrete
or polished wooden floor
with men who adored them
and weren't faking it
I have been at the bar
pissed off and bitter
with my pack of menthols
or Camels on a really low night
sexy glow courtesy of Mr. Jack Daniels
or top shelf tequila
I've turned down cowboys who were
too short or too hokey
(Hey, Darlin'! Wanna Show Em How It's Done?)
SHIT, I thought
if I can't have the Real Thing
if I can't be danced across by that floor
by Someone Who MEANS it
to HELL with it!
I'll sit here on this bar stool
until I turn to fossil!
...Texas love myths are huge and I couldn't escape
them, not even in my truck
drivin' down 35 or I-10
with George Strait or Willie Nelson on the radio
and memories of my grandfather playin' dominoes
or runnin' a trot line
bumpin' against memories of my dad in his black cowboy hat
tellin' my mom
We'll Sit in Our Rockin' Chairs and Listen to These Songs
When We're Old
now there's You
an alien
an outsider
a Yankee, no less!
but the perfect one
(I'm convinced)
to dance me
across that floor
Back to the Heart-on-Sleeve Corner