The Marlboro Man, addled with love poems,
Begins to act strangely...
He treats his horse like a house pet
And sits at home in the afternoons,
Watching Oprah and Rachael Ray.
Sick of sagebrush,
He trades in his old black skillet
For a dream kitchen.
"For god's sake pull yourself together" nags his cigarette-steeped sister
As her kids finger his figurines.
He quits smoking,
Gives up huckstering.
The Lesbians next door buy him a rainbow
--a real one!--
Which he places in the yard between the trellis
And the barbecue.
In the evenings,
There is the sound of Gato Barbieri drifting from his windows;
No buttes
No diamondback rattlers.
Just
The Marlboro Man
Reading the Advocate
In the peace of the almost midnight.
