Desert Jack
(Vintage poetry from my college years)
By Jackie Schneider, sometime in the late 90’s
Schneider is my maiden name, in case you were wondering…
Desert Jack
To be or not to be
The desert wind blows cactus free
Jack sits on a thrown of hows and whats
Paper dolls and paper cuts
Ticking time and talking trash
Parties, fanfare, hoola-hash
Windows with pretentious shades
Shadows made of marmalade
Luscious locks of a lover’s lust
Vanishing in the desert dust
That is the question
The desert insists
Flashing white light
Between lips to be kissed
Raging souls and raging fists
Chattering teeth and bleeding wrists
Sadness, sorrow, tuna fish
Doorways with forgetful knobs
Silhouettes made of shish-cabob
Sterling strands of a stranger’s stage
Eluding you turning the desert’s page
Weather it is nobler
The desert blows the cactus sober
Jack sits with desire
Next to black birds on a telephone wire
Bars for jail, bars for drinking
Ships for sail, ships for sinking
Flying, souring, wishful thinking
Portholes with a gluttonous sign
Dark casts made of red velvet wine
Reddened ropes of a realist’s reign
Dwindling in the desert’s pain
