Photography © Edward S. Gault

 

Bullets and Bad Luck

Bullets and bad luck,
Beat down,
Brain dead.

Russian Roulette in the cemetery,
Cracked headstone,
Red river,
Gorging on grass.

I loved my girl,
But not enough.
Not for my blood,
Not for her beauty.

Brass knuckles,
Broken ribs,
Sulfur dribble.

White line fever,
Last rites, he drives,
Clapboard church down a country road.

They dump my body,
Front of the alter,
Sanctuary of my soul,
I see them,
Through the window.
Backseat breaking through,
A slain coyote,
Sways from the tree.

 

Lukas Flippo is a writer and photographer from rural Mississippi currently living in New York City as a sabbatical from the Deep South. As the first person in his family to attend college, he graduated from Yale University with a degree in American Studies and Journalism. He writes about ghosts, myths, and legends of the American South. Almost never in third person, though. So cut him a break if this biographical statement didn’t quite flow.

Edward S. Gault is a poet and fine arts photographer living in Brighton, Massachusetts. His work has appeared in Oddball Magazine, Spectrum, Wilderness House Literary Review, Interlude, Currents, and Encore. His poetry collection, Airhead and Other Poems was published this year by Read and Green Books.