Nada en esto pueblo
except a strip of blacktop,
a couple dollar stores,
Schwebe's saloon,
and three dozen motels.

What job can anyone pull
but as desk clerk
at the inn?
Lodging: the biggest industry

and

sex: the greatest sport

A town where more pregnancy tests
than condoms
are sold

Pale pink motels
with baby blue pools
Sun-faded plastic chairs
around a cracked table
with fat gamblers
trying to pump some life
into their dying souls.

Warm cheap beer and glowing cigars
and a gun in a hidden holster.

All service, no ideas, no heart.
A town of bear, moose + mice,
a rodeo and a dance,
and a dead-end street in a
valley of hills.

07/13/2010

Author's Note: Raton, New Mexico

Posted on 07/13/2010
Copyright © 2024 Eric Hinkle