Last Call by David Lee

Reveille, Adolph’s
    Lake Hills, Texas
    Rena working the bar past John Sims
    with the coffee pot asked
    Yall boys going
    to the School Board Meeting tonight?
    Clovis said I don’t imagine I will
    but Billy has to go
    since he’s nominated
    to be on a hoity toity committee
    Billy said
    I doubt I’ll be there either
    Rena said What committee
    and what’s hoity toity?
    Billy said Part A is meaningless
    and as for Part B
    according to the Oxford English Dictionary
    hoity toity in the denotative sense
    comes directly down to la dee fucking dah
    It says that in the dictionary?
    Clovis said If Billy said it is
    it’s exactly verbatim
    which to him means
    that’s the gist of it
    Billy said Ledbitter
    you don’t know Jack Shit
    That shows what you know
    I might have known him once
    Oh bull said Billy
    you rattle on as much
    as that damned old Dodge pickup of yours
    you old high pockets
    Rena said Now you boys
    yall just straighten up and act respectable
    this is a high class joint
    and it’s too early for yall arguing
    when real people mostly can’t even understand
    what you two ex-professors are saying
    Clovis said As a matter of fact
    I remember it all now and I believe I did
    I think he might have lived
    in Tahoka a while back
    and I could have met him there
    Yeah and in what part of a Chaucerian pig’s anatomy
    do you think we’ll believe that? said Billy
    Would yall like a bump on your coffee?
    Naw we better get going
    make hay while the sun’s shining said Billy
    Rats to kill said Clovis
    What yall got planned? said Rena
    Dunno yet said Clovis
    haven’t had time to think about it so far
    Got to see what the weather’s going to do said Billy
    Looks to be a purdy one
    Well I hope so said Billy
    If it gets hot we can sit on the porch
    and shade bake, tell some lies
    Might haul some garbage
    Mebbe go down and count Delphin’s three cows said Clovis
    You can write about it again
    now that you know for sure how many there are
    Billy said See what I mean?
    Ledbitter, you never did know Jack Shit
    That’s right
    I probably wouldn’t recognize him
    if I was sitting right beside him
    would I?
    I bet yall find something interesting
    at least to talk about said Rena
    Let’s go Klogphorne
    we’re burning up sunshine
    Yep said Billy up and at’m
    Bye yall
    Yes’m
    Bye Miss Rena
    See yall tomorrow morning
    Bright and early said Billy
    unless we decide to hold the School Board Meeting here tonight
    then we’ll be back with the libationous expeditionary force
    I imagine that’s a fact said Rena
    I’ll be looking for you either way
    either time
    you boys be good now
    Yes’m Miss Rena
    unless we get lucky
    Will you come on Clovis my godamitey
    I’ve been standing here half the morning
    waiting on you already
    You just button it up Buffalo Billy Bob Klepfrog
    I told you I’m coming
    save your breath to cool your mush
    Mr In a Big Hurry
    Well you’re sure not
    Bye, see you later, said John
    See yall tonight I’m betting
    From what I’ve heard
    you pretty much only bet on sure things
    so we’ll probably be here
    I spect that’s right said John
    I’ll be here awaiting

The Traildust Gospel
    Â¡Contempla!
    â€”Juan Bautista, who, folk legend tells us, lost his mind over a woman’s footprints in the dust somewhere east of Pecos
    1
    Onella Penny smoked a pipe
    P. A. tobacco you could smell
    two yards over
    nobody ever mentioned
    outside our neighborhood
    but what finally made her famous
    after the big stomp
    was when we noticed
    how she walked so hard
    for a woman who wasn’t
    to speak of necessarily
    fleshy
    in a dry season
    her steps wove dust
    cyclone children on the way
    to the trash barrel or clothes line
    past her ankles, swirls
    almost to her knees
    so that
    one August morning
    Billy Klogphorne and Clovis Ledbitter
    perched on the back porch furniture
    morning coffeeing in short sleeved shirts
    saw her