by Carl Clay Caulkins

On a Sunday I came back
    to my one room country shack
It was late afternoon
    in early Spring
You sat there on the bare mattress
    long hair fallin’ all down your back
The sun was sinking low
    and burning fiery red
When you turned your head
    the bed began to sing
Like a dulcimer

    made out of rusty springs

              ********

       Easy Street
Where they play that Hawaiian guitar
They say that love is bittersweet
They say it leaves a scar
       Oh Nancy
Let’s go dancin’ all the same
    We can’t go wrong
    As long as I just aim
                                 this car
              at that morning star

              ********

We ran off to Denver
    Dead certain I was ready
To conquer the Country Western
    music scene
You bought a silk kimono
    and learned to cook spaghetti
At closing time in the taverns
    I would sing “Goodnight Irene”
And then come waltzin’ home
    with a jingle

    and a jangle
    down in the pockets

    of my jeans

              ********

       Easy Street
Where they play that Hawaiian guitar
They say that love is bittersweet
They say it leaves a scar
       Oh Nancy
Won’t you dance with me all the same
    We can’t go wrong
    As long as I just aim
                                 this car

              at that morning star

               ********

Later in New England
    I was Singing “Ring of Fire”
and thinking Paris France
    or Budapest
I could see you at the corner table
    turning down admirers
Pale as the moon
    in your Sausalito dress
Sippin’ Rusty Nails
    and rememberin’
    the sunset that we saw
    when we were runaways
    passing through Wichita

    heading for the West

                     ********

       Easy Street
Where they play that Hawaiian guitar
They say that love is bittersweet
They say it leaves a scar
       Oh Nancy
We could dance through flames
    maybe we’ll vanish without a trace
    and laugh right in the devil’s face
    yes we could end up anyplace
         If I just aim
                          this car
       at that morning star

by Carl Clay Caulkins

Fare thee well, Oklahoma
Buick, take me west
    I’m blinded by the sun
    And just like Jesse
       when he was on the run
I’m unable to rest

Out here in the middle of nowhere
A phone booth is the only sign of life
    There it stands, alone in the snow
    So inviting
       Like the home fires burnin’ low
It’s enough to make a man
                                miss his wife

              ********

Mystery road
       Hands reach out on either side
Yes, this mystery road
       Is a long hard ride
Why tell me why
Don’t I have my darlin’
Sittin’ by my side

              ********

My eyelids are heavy
And it’s awful hard to hold up my head

    I’m lighter than air
    I haven’t a single care
All I need is supper and a bed

In my dreams, Nancy screams
And my heart leaps up into my throat
    The truck roars past me
                    an inch away

    I can hear the big tires whisper
                    the big tires they say

“Almost all she wrote”

              ********

Mystery road

      Hands reach out on either side

Yes, this mystery road

      Is a long hard ride

If it hadn’t been for foolish pride

I’d have my darlin’

Sittin’ by my side

by Carl Clay Caulkins

Papa lies under the willow
    and Mama lies over the sea
My jack knife lies under my pillow
    keeping me company

Easy questions, they throw me
    and hard ones come as a surprise
Friends aren’t sure that they know me
    they show me with their eyes

         The worst of the winter
            has come and gone
         And now it seems
            like the ghost of a dream
     A dream I will never understand
            Here comes the dawn
               I was wonderin’
               where she’d gone
            These tin coffee cups
               sure do warm up
                  your hand
               Ain’t life grand?

My feet beat a path to your doorway
    my heart’s worn a hole in my sleeve
It’s oh so difficult to stay here
    and it’s impossible to leave

Maybe it’s hunger that brings me back
    maybe I’m flirting with doom
Or maybe it’s just a voice I trust
    that whispers to me
    when I’m in this room

         The worst of the winter
            has come and gone
         And now it seems
            like the ghost of a dream
     A dream I will never understand
            Here comes the dawn
               I was wonderin’
              where she’d gone
            These tin coffee cups
               sure do warm up
                  your hand
               Ain’t life grand

by Alessandro Spinazzi

You have
to give up
drinking
(for a while
nothing is
forever)
not
to be
sober
but
to get drunk
on morning breeze
and have
hangovers
for having
contemplated
the moon
of the night before
for too long

you’ll sit
by your hotel window
with new eyes
the movie
is still on
with a new plot

you are not alone
in it

easy to say
i know
i know.