The Tuesday Poem: “at night my dead mother appears wanting soup” by Frankie McMillan

at night my dead mother appears wanting soup

I search the town for ox tails
even the movie houses

there’s Clint Eastwood placing
a bridle on his horse

I need a bit of guidance, I say
and he turns to doff his hat

the way cowboys do and I ask
the approximate whereabouts

of the nearest ox
and he hands me a pistol

you can do this, he says
so now I’m in charge

of a Colt but how to load
or fire and time is running out,

you see light leak around the edges
the way you might if trussed up

in a haybarn...