red sticks

old grey cat  
after winter fears that sunshine more  
more blood to take back home  
scraps to get back underneath the porch  
been waiting around to die  
longer than i been drinking wine  
ain't no animal control for this kind  
we just kill each other  
slap high fives  
here in baton rouge  
 
 
how many screams and cries  
when the well runs low  
we bath in cancer  
sip eye for an eye and stay on the couch  
shadows dance on concrete and hollows  
from here to the mississippi line  
the first wise man since my father died  
was picking his feet next to me  
bound to the floor  
below the county courthouse  
here in baton rouge  
 
i hope they like banjo where the sun goes  
 
lil lady named lullaby  
in the cell across the way  
been 25 for the past ten years  
barroom brawls over arguments-southern politics  
but not until after they called off singing time  
i hear she use to dance at dixie mafia shindigs  
till they beat her down when a lieutenant  
couldn't get it hard  
new orleans got a taste before she was through  
that town hit her harder  
then having to say her birthday out loud  
to the guard in intake  
plans on wasting time with me  
when nothing sounds pretty  
and nothing left to lose  
once we get back to baton rouge  
 
we were all someplace else  
 
before we got here  
 
townes van zandt  
 
where the hell were you?  
 
when the laces broke in these dirty ol shoes  
 
in baton rouge