USA

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Firefighter

Motionless chest,hard as concrete,
His uniform long since scissored off
Revealing the mortal beneath.
Epinephrine,Bretylium,empty syringes,
Hot Packs everywhere,
Yet nothing reversing his cold lake immersion,
Cardiac compressions counted to the gurneys groan,
One one thousand,Two one thousand,Three one thousand..
Oxygenate..

Parallel treatment room,
Pain duplicated
In the blank eyes of a frozen child,
the sad object of the firefighters mission.
Both now unsaveable,
even by the united dozens,
and their warm saline tears.
One one thousand,Two one thousand,Three one thousand..
Oxygenate..

Interstate 75

Ive scrubbed down this road
Forty times so far,
Me and the Chevy Cavalier
Putting mileage on one another.
Gas and brake pedals grown to my feet,
Radio stations changed by just my thoughts,
Windshield same as my eyes.
Please marry me soon
Before this car eats all of me.

Covered Wagon

Prairie Schooner, wooden spoke dreams and canvas,
Pulled by heavy horses.
The plains,straw hued flatness,color drained by heat,
"If the thirst dont kill ya ,the water will"

At the last outpost
An Indian laughed with young David,
He had no candy for our child
So he just gave him a secret.

Winter House Build

Scrap 2x4s,shredded plastic,deep tracks of clay mud
Generators fueling the ammo of the nail guns
Hangovers common as Carharts
It starts so cold and loud in the morning
Shagging sheets of wood up a tired ladder
Trying to climb to the sun
Watching the temperature instead of the clock
Only lunchtime brings a possibility of the day
ever being done.
Sitting, smoking, on the front seat of uninsured pickup trucks,
Hoping the next load of material arrives late enough
For the heater to work.

© All Copyright, John McAuley.
All Rights Reserved. Printed By Permission.