His hat was hidden behind
the piano until the finale
when he took it out,
waved it at the crowd
and raised it to his head
as he disappeared into
the shadows of the world,
where he can be heard
from a haunted old stereo
on the edge of eternity,
playing each song a little
different every time,
dressed in matador stripes
in a dance with the devil
out on Highway 61,
and I can still hear him
in my mind where there
is sonic blood on the tracks
of a mystery train that
passes through us all.
is the author of Too Young to Know (Stubborn Mule Press) and Invasion of the Shadow People (forthcoming Luchador Press, 2022). His work has appeared in Slipstream, Chiron Review, Nerve Cowboy, Main Street Rag, Plainsongs, San Pedro River Review, The Cape Rock, Trailer Park Quarterly, Cultural Daily, and The American Journal of Poetry, among others. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, he lives and writes in Long Beach, California.
