I Don’t Scream Outlaw Because It Is A Fad
by Doug Draime

I would’ve
rode with
Jesse James
if I’d
been
alive and
he would’ve politely
asked me -
explained the situation
over strong coffee and ham hocks,
in his home ...
while Frank adjusted
the sights
on Jesse’s pistol in
the kitchen, as the red & gray
Missouri sunset
wavered on
the flat land.
There would’ve been
plenty of home-still moonshine
and good weed; and their wives,
down home girls,
who would’ve drank and smoked
right along
with the rest of us
outlaws.

Doug Draime's most recent books are: "Unoccupied Zone" (Pitchfork Press, 2004), and forthcoming from Scintillating Publications in 2005, "Spiders And Madmen". Publishing in the underground and small press since the late 1960's, he was awarded PEN grants in 1987 and 1991. He lives in Oregon.