we don’t have alabama moonlight
or family histories that add up
into anything more than corn whiskey
or biblical floods

our pockets filled with pebbles
and loose change
leave an emotional deficit
no matter how many times
we count them

you say
that’s alright
just lay flat
on your back

and look for camelot
as your dreams
cross the mississippi river
floating away
in a brooks brothers suit.

JOHN DORSEY lived for several years in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw's Prayer (Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), Sodomy is a City in New Jersey (American Mettle Books, 2010), Appalachian Frankenstein (GTK Press, 2015,) Being the Fire (Tangerine Press, 2016) and Shoot the Messenger (Red Flag Press, 2017). He is the current Poet Laureate of Belle, MO.