hasta la vista buckaroo

This is an interesting poem by Charles Wright originally printed in VQR *(see the printed version, with the correct indentions here... I can't seem to get them right on blogger) and in his new book Sestets. All of the poems in the book are contained in a compact 6 lines. He continues to mix the modern with both an old-school southern hymnal style & zen-ness.


Hasta la Vista Buckaroo

So many have come and gone, undone
like a rhinestone cowboy,
Dazzle and snuff, Lord, dazzle and snuff,
In a two-bit rodeo.

The entrance to hell is just a tiny hole in the ground,
The size of an old pecan, soul-sized, horizon-sized.
Thousands go through it each day before the mist clears
thousands one by one you’re next.


-Charles Wright