When he stopped speaking
No one spoke
Silence surrounded us
Like cotton seeds in cotton bolls
Here in a sunny white field.
The birded lies of misery
Swooped hungrily
With sharp black beaks
Tried to pluck the delicious
Hard seeds of truth.
Then the sound
Of an unseen car
Swept by from the street
Left to right
Through the open window.
I sat and leaned back
In a church with 10 men
In a 12 Step Meeting,
Feeling the silence
Healing the whole room . . .
As the speeding car took
Every lonely soul along for a ride
To a place where the powerful
Go to die
And the powerless
Go home in peace.
Corn Crib 