The horses bring the drama, as the yellow planes
Drop the rice seeds, even under wires. There are horses
In the McDonald's drive-through, roosters who speak for bays
At the Peyton Place ranch, cows and guys in Santa suits
On roofs, they've finally put up a hitching post
After that duel at the India Market, two husbands dead,
And the dignitary in the chicken suit who crossed
Under the Rio Linda arch won't help you stay ahead
Drop the rice seeds, even under wires. There are horses
In the McDonald's drive-through, roosters who speak for bays
At the Peyton Place ranch, cows and guys in Santa suits
On roofs, they've finally put up a hitching post
After that duel at the India Market, two husbands dead,
And the dignitary in the chicken suit who crossed
Under the Rio Linda arch won't help you stay ahead
Of the drama trauma horse assembly. The coffin parades
Across the stage, shows nightly, except on line dance Thursdays.
Elkhorn turns to Greenback as it snakes through Citrus Heights
All the way to Orangevale, like Joseph James D'Angelo Jr
Committed undetectable every imaginable
Crime here for 44 years. Now, the mall era ends
With professional tennis players in the parking lot,
The birds in cages who oversaw the suburban preenery
Gone even from memory, like the suburban dreams
Of munificence, for families, dialysis, barbeque.
The Early Toast Growth Factory has dyslexia specialists.
The last time I was here, I photographed a baby
On a suitcase in the lupines, who gave me a fake name
Because he didn't want to buy the Thistle Patch
Fire station ice cream. But there will be no more melting
Of the instant wildflower rings from vernal pools
In Phoenix Park every spring.
It's silent enough to manifest a rattlesnake.
The shopping cart people marsh the mallow of the rice fields
At sunset, flooded repo lots outside the potash
Distillery, where purple taco trucks rest between shifts.
The Croatian Cultural Center would book more weddings
If not for the crazy eye escapees from the child receiving home.
At least that's what the traveling therapist from Vacaville claimed
Over donuts shared at seven am with cops
At Erica's after clearing the homeless camp.
The ham radio poet would have a field work day
Knitting these antennas of the RFD news feed
But I'm exiled like Edward and the white almond blossoms
On Caddington Way, between Christmas spurs, murders
And manses, lives recreated from the element air
On the dispassionate magician's manifest.
I cracked a flute of blues last night, a grok jock in the end
Schlepping nostalgia, for my protection, on a palette
Of billboard attorney nursery rhymes, the ever
Empty cup of hope. We come with all the nothing we need
And there's always something. My crystals have gathered wings,
Casper's friendly zoomies come as if by wand from the clouds.
