utilize a little of this

there's a tempting spoon
drizziling traces of coffee
over curled up orange peels
like dirt stains on old maps
I'm tracing a path out of town
with the chewed off nail
on my index finger

you can't reproduce that with
a handed down atlas
it won't have the same choice of roads
and some of those bridges were burnt
a long time ago

runway lights that snake their way
through untamed cajun swamp
getting hidden in the fog
candle lights or traffic lights
the only lights
that cut through those blinds
onto faded, stripped, hardwood floor
and those shoes resting gently on mine

when theres next low tide
and all the tourist boats are stranded
lets light fireworks at them
lets see if "women and children first"
still applies after Golfers Quarterly
picked those bones clean

old men smile if you have
the right facial hair
they remember what scars
can be hidden underneath
they go back to chewing dominoes
till they're spitting blood again
and we toast with them in Spanish
"to aficion"