Two Poems by Kendall L. Witherspoon

Poetry – Issue 12 | June 2011

Five

Five of us pack like small ass fish in Ricky’s
rattletrap work van, barrel up that skinny pass,
battling past neon seduction where we sucked
vodka like thin mountain air our first night.
Fishtailing by the spiritual motel where I peeled

the onion layers of love with that Houston chick.
Flying over Difficult Creek, flyspeck raindrops
swarming the cracked windshield, a billion
invisible stars herding animals behind the storm.
We are the long-haired sons of flat-landers,

collars blue as the crawling alpine shadows,
bleeding hearts sick of the ripening corn
and Friday drugstore loiter on our fruited plain.
A mile from camp, up where the road narrows
and center lines crawl into asphalt beds,

a curious light washes the rock face above.
We park along that low stone wall constructed
by 1940s men and out we stumble, a bag
of boys, drunken laughter tumbling down.
Below us, a yellow Karmann Ghia, broken

back against a rushing creek wall, wheels still
turning, doors flayed open like willing arms
waiting for a fiery embrace. One angelic eye
still searching, reaching up like a delicate hand
pulling us all roughly down on top of her.

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Kendall L. Witherspoon has never won a Pushcart but once pushed one in Nosara, Costa Rica, where he searched for the great American short story and the elusive jaguarundi. A creative director and graduate of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, his design work has appeared in Communication Arts Magazine and has sold everything from piston rings to magicians. He’s a self-taught writer and this is his first publication.

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Literary Bohemian

Poetry – Issue 12 | June 2011