All alone in a lifetime
of series of poor, cheap
computers trying to tell my
story at about the same cost.
The cowboy looking down at
his boots, realizing they’re not
Tony Llamas or even real leather
but simply something that held together.
Had only his life simply been so like
that. Yet while it lasted, held together
by a dream or dreams…of course
never coming true but truly because
a dream is a dream, it can’t become real
hence then contradicting the meaning
of a dream by becoming a reality.
Gone from the days of hitchhiking
to “LA …” or “San Fran or bust!”
and somehow parlaying that mentality
into the digital age of virtual transportation
for like cheap, low cost, or no cost
escapism—everything from and to–
places never to be seen except on
the screen, he stuck his harpoon
into some kind of internet virtual
animal, brought it home, cared for it,
honed it…
Until one day the landlord broke down
the apartment door with the police
and put that hound out of business
once and for evermore.
V. William Barrett was raised in the American West. He attended Boise State University and received his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, just short of Edward Abbey’s departure. He is the author of Greater Than a Tourist: the American West, a guide.