Jesus In Town

Jesus in Town David J Walker Jesus could explain life like no other Riding in the back of the 56 Chevy pickup The Farm to Market roads Crossing the country of a summer Lost in Lea County New Mexico We work They pay Is about all he would say in broken English Nosotros trabajamos ellos juegan in his TexMex Spanish Someone else is getting rich My uncle would btch about Matters of money all day driving the John Deere tractor dragging a cultivator over dirt as cracked and dry as his lips A lit Pall Mall cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth Smoking and swearing there was never any money At the end of any month on this G-Damn rock farm At night Aunt Nora put a hot supper On the Formica-top table in the kitchen Over the linoleum floor Are you trading for a new truck She asked But she knew the answer Maybe said Uncle Ed she knew he would If he could after the harvest The Farmhouse was six miles from town and At night When the fireflies came out And the cicadas sang their Monotonous seasonal songs We sat on lawn chairs looking at The distant lights in town As if it might be a Better place to go There might be a picture show with newsreels and cartoons and popcorn The paper comes only once A week so I never know What’s showing or going on Jesus said there was a Mexican Movie in town And he might go But He never does