death was the driver

the scrape of boots on a gravel road

dust and ashes

dancing at my feet

as i hitchhike through the desert

through the bowels of the sunburnt country

where it's littered with skeletons

of bodies and cars that collapsed

and through the graveyard rides old man death

in his black cadillac

he rolls down the window on the driver side

and i first see his darked marked hand

and he grins at me with yellow teeth and he gestures with a half cigarette

he says hop in and i'll get you where you're going"