Oxygen Masks Don’t Make The Hero

I didn’t know that
chickens shit their eggs
until he showed me.
The fig tree, the pea patch
and the chicken coop were
just places
but he made them
memories cloaked in
July molasses and fire ants.

Bandit followed wherever
he went, leaves in her
hair, chewing on insects but
she just wanted to be left
alone with him.
Soda Can Mountain was always
growing on the old trailer’s
front steps. The new
trailer just has Cigarette Butt City.
It wasn’t the same.

Dean died and he got
quiet.
Nothing sparkled anymore –
he sold his truck and put the
miles on her car instead.
Now they’re both gone
John doesn’t know
what to do.
But the eggs
are laid every day, the
fig tree keeps growing,
and the rooster crows at five
like
clockwork.