Burial Poem 4-- 36.9870 North, 94.8395 West

Picher, Oklahoma

The Gorillas don't play here anymore
        between the industrial dunes
        and dead streets
                                state football champions
        1984 a modern day boom town
        full
             of vacancy now
                                  as the wind
        is slow a yellow jacket
             is stuck in sludge covering the stadium
        stairs--buzzes
                           flutters its wings
                 it will never
                     leave
                            the streets taken
         by the weeds
                          empty houses with
                unhinged doors
         only the insects survive
                  the fallout the rest
            is a hollow silence
                   like a death rattle
          the buildings creek and yet nothing
                  moves
                            so I bury you here
          outside the gymnasium
               where the town's people
             said good-bye
                             June 29, 2009