Night Train at Luster Gap
Where I waited for you
Having taken the last train into Cheyenne Wyoming
I’m in my half-priced red dress 1:45 am In a cheap motel
I am perfectly groomed Silk stockings A garter belt
Eyebrows, lips, hair so detailed
Between my legs I am washing with orange blossom water and vanilla
I am the perfect lover
Bucket of ice on the nightstand
Laying still on this bed Legs smooth from my bic razor
I love hate my need for you
And hope your wife will just go away
Absurd in the dark I rearrange the way my hair falls on the pillow
Like the dead really And my hands are like ice
A wreck and too proud to admit the fool I am
Having used every last penny I had
On this ticket, bottle of wine, oil that you will smell and think me magic
Irresistible, see how easily I make you laugh
I know you and what you want
Snakes are in my belly And I know it
My cuticles bleed where I cannot stop picking at them
I am a fraud and have no intention of
Allowing you to see this
Perfect I lay on these dirty sheets In this cheap motel
Getting up 25, 200, 250 times to peep out the window
Pour more orange blossom between my legs Apply more lipstick
Dawn — You never come
Circles under my eyes, ridiculous, mouth so dry
preposterous with red lipstick
I smell sour I am alone With a stupid bucket of water by the bed
Found a corner of the room to call my own and fuck myself
To the sound of the infomercial
I did too much
I do too much
I can never make this right
Jolaoso Pretty Thunder is a common earth-woman. She lives in the deep woods of Northern California with her family and two dogs Rosie Farstar and Ilumina Holy Dog. She is a farmer, practitioner and student of herbal medicine. She is also an ordained minister of the First Nations Church and the founder of The Cloud Women's Dream Society, as well as a contributor and publisher of Cloud Women's Quarterly Journal. She is a well-traveled poet who loves rock, porch swings, pickup trucks, cooking, campfires, lightning, steak, long drives, hot cups of coffee, gathering and making medicine and singing with friends and family.