Cave Creek

my old buddy

pete called

how's it going

i asked

not so good

pete said my wife and i

are separating

why’s that

i asked

she’s kicking me out

because she doesn’t want

to sleep with me anymore

she says she can't

i laughed that’s a

tough break man

pete named his son ian

after ian hunter

the singer in

mott the hoople

my brother

pete and i

hitchhiked

from new river

to mesa to see

ian hunter and

mick ronson

when we were

in high school

mick ronson

was in david bowie's band

when bowie was good

he played on great albums like

diamond dogs

ziggy stardust

welcome to the club

and you're never alone with a schizophrenic

he also was a part of bob dylan’s

rolling thunder review

mick ronson

got cancer and died about five years ago

ian hunter wrote

a song about him

called michael picasso

after high school

pete and i holed up

in cave creek

we lived in a shack

across the street

from the lumber yard

next to a car wash

and behind us

over a hill

a white church

with a basket ball hoop

in the parking lot

pete and i

shot hoops there

once in awhile

my dog jenny

lived with us

pete called her

leonard

pete was looking

out the window

at jenny running

across cave creek road

i picked a nice roach

out of the ashtray

and asked

why are you sniffing glue

when you have this

i already smoked that

pete said

i lit it and offered it to him

i’m good

yeah you are

i’m going to go

find my dog

leonard’s just right there

i put the roach in my pocket

pete laughed

i don’t know what happened but it did

he said

i followed jenny to the dumpster

in the parking lot of the horny toad

when jenny and i returned

pete had his head

inside a plastic bag

and jojoba mike and eric

the carpenter who lived across the street

were smoking a joint

and watching a football game

on pete’s black and white tv

who’s winning i asked

i don’t know mike said

and handed me the joint

who’s playing

mike do you know where

to get any acid

pete asked

mike hired

illegal aliens

to pick jojoba beans

sometimes though

when times were tough

he and his wife

were the only pickers

he had

she would

come by sometimes

to take a shower when

they were living in the house

on the other side of

the car wash

that place never had

hot water

she was cute

mike was a vietnam vet

i told him once

that i respected him for that

he told me

i shouldn’t

but i always have

eric worked

for my dad sometimes

so did i

he was a good

dope connection

he lived next door

to a gay guy

named darien

everyone called

darien

darvon

pete and i

would have eric

score our dope

from him

i didn't know how

to roll a joint

back then

i was over at eric’s house

and he said

i could take one home

if i rolled it correctly

i learned how to roll a joint

that day

years later

eric got arrested

for child molestation

i didn’t know him then

my dad told me about it

he still lives in cave creek

eric was acquitted

but i bet

he was never

the same guy

after that

he had a heart attack

and died in his sleep

a couple years ago

i always kind of looked up to him

he was a pretty good carpenter

kenny knows where to get some

i said

kenny the twit

pete asked

yeah i said i bet he aint’ sniffing glue

not if he has acid

mike said

hey eric are you

going to help

my dad build

gordie’s house

out on

dynamite boulevard

i asked

i’m going to prescott

for two months

eric said

where does kenny live

mike asked

my dad

moved to telluride

i was out

of a job

i hitchhiked

to scottsdale community college

for awhile

but my heart wasn’t in it

my dad talked me into

moving up to colorado

and pete moved into phoenix

i gave the house to jimmy hough

a couple years later

he burned it down

you can still see the ruins

if you drive down

cave creek road

jenny moved in

with my mother

up on the navajo reservation

it was a better place

for her to live

she’s buried up there

on a hill

where my mom

used to take her

to run

i joined the army in denver

stayed in three years

about the time i got out

pete joined up

four years later

pete got out and

moved back to phoenix

we would run

into each other

every once in awhile

he was living in a trailer

outside an art house

in an alley downtown

when he met his wife

i was there

one night

she dropped by

i liked her

when we lived in

cave creek

pete was reading

death in venice

a page a day

i don’t think

he finished it

though maybe

he did

anyway twenty years later

i told my dad about it

he thought

it was kind of noble

and i guess it was

interesting

at least

my dad always liked pete

i know it isn't funny

but it really is

i said

yeah i guess

if i were a judge

i said

if you were a judge eric

we would all be in deep shit

pete said