The Gunslinger died this morning
A driedup worm on El Paso concrete
Happened in a child’s bed.
There was a pillow & a blanket.
There was a scar around the neck
Not the scar of a failed hanging
But shirtcollar too small.
The Gunslinger was more Cagney
Than Fonda.
Hammered cowboyboots heelshaved and leaky.
The spurs rusted.
Gun missing.
And no wife outside wept and no whores
Drank rye
And the cardplayers
Never missed a hand.
The Gunslinger said twenty-eight men he shot & killed
In Reno just to see them dance.
The Gunslinger possessed
Thanatic Magnetism
She refused to believe his Irish redhair
Was gone
Nobody in the hotel knew his name
The dead Gunslinger.
To the grave the Gunslinger was
Carried
In nothing but purple Yfronts.
Anthony James Bergman
aiurea press 