I step out of the queue for a Coolatta
lose my place
end up on the set of Cheyenne
with Clint Walker
strings rehearsing theme
lip-syncing Milli Vanilli
distributing trifolds
for a fan-belt competition
high on Nielsen
massaged into Reality
with Meat Loaf opposite Betty White
this morning's outtakes
as appetizing as entrails from Chef-for-Today
tweeted as CFT
not to be confused with CSI:
last week’s episode
a brainworm
making its way
through the parietal lobe
renewing friendships
from its last trip
50+ years ago
during a thunderstorm
that KO’d the power
and led to an impromptu
acoustic version
of I Want to Hold Your Hand
prompted
not by love
but by fear:
rooted in a month in the country
when I was five
and left alone briefly
in the kitchen
of an old farmhouse
outside Reims
while my father
ran out
into the rain
to retrieve a colt
broken out
of the corral
when lightning
demolished a section of fence
on the far eastern corner.
