Tonight's Poet Corner: This Many Miles to Empty

This Many Miles to Empty
by Belinda Roddie

and the streets light up
under your feet
your hot, rubber feet
leaving tattoos in the asphalt
half-melted in the sunset
baked ennui
baked lethargy

stick the nozzle in your mouth
you are drinking an oasis
the spout spews gold
the taste is too sweet
you bend over on the street corner
and vomit fire and smoke

one more mile to find a liquor store
for a bullet of honey whiskey
two more miles to see cattle
with their hooves split like tree bark
the highway is as dry and barren as
a corn husk, and the fields are brown,
brown, and more brown

you have driven this far
but your tank rings hollow
how many more miles until
your throat runs dry?
so many words to pronounce
the growls are guttural gibberish
there's a scream in your mouth
as harsh and slippery as coolant

and the streets light up