in a flint hills hallucination :
turban-capped geronimo
passed through eldorado kansas
on an army train and escaped
through some feat of inexplicable
invisibility : and found
secret refuge in the wilds
of the nuttle ranch where
my wife's people
buried their swiss francs
in the sky ::
in the rolling pastures geronimo :
with only two cartridges
and a creaky 30.06 to his name :
shot a deer out of season
and feasted : alone : on two stolen (!)
watermelons and
the goodwill of this
occupied land ::
:: before being caught he
walked three nights in a row
without crossing a fence
or ever thirsting during
the day :: in the air hung
the warm suggestion of coffee
though he never
found any ::
but in those few days
before he was caught : he
glimpsed the rumor
of a world thus far
undiscovered : untouched
and yet quietly
civilized :: where even
deer were complicit with
bullets and plentiful :::
geronimo : his
juniper breath sweet
with tears : vowed feathered
revenge on his captors
but only with
vague sincerity ::
we know of course
how all this ends ::
fort sill : tiswin : world's fair :
those fond frilly hats ::
a ditch some night
outside lawton ::
we learn that even he
had his fatal
exhausting
price :::
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