Poetry by D.B. Cox | (2009 Honorable Mention)

last chance motel

a run-down motel
clings to the shoulders
of a narrow highway
a blinking neon sign
shoots holes through the middle
of a mississippi night—
enfolded in the semi-darkness
of a lamp-lit room
a man leans over a table
etching straight-razor
phrases into the
pages of a hotel notepad
recounting hazy days
strung out behind
like empty boxcars
way past the possibility
of finding something
to count on—
like
the orbit of the earth
around the sun
like
moon-swung oceans
guided by gravity’s hands
like
a lucky star to steer
his feet past lonely streets
that lead
to places like
this last chance motel—
where he sits
with pen in hand
a pistol on the table
& a bible in every room.

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DB Cox can be found in the early-morning hours, bent over a Fender Stratocaster guitar, in roadhouses and juke joints throughout the south. He describes his playing style as "a look at life through drunken, godless eyes" To quiet his tortured soul, he writes. He has published four books of poetry. His first chapbook is entitled "Passing For Blue", and is available from Rank Stranger Press. Two other chapbooks, "Lowdown" and "Ordinary Sorrows", are available from Pudding House Publications. His latest collection called "Empty Frames" can be picked up on-line at Main Street Rag Publishing.