Cuz

Cicadas hum,
starlings sing.
_____June heat
__________dry
as the deer skull
peering from beside
_____that rust-mottled truck.
Mid-60s Ford on blocks.
_____Martin kicks stones
__________down the road.
Rancheria dust
__________grass gold.
Grandma alone knows
_____what the old things mean
and why his white father
had to run 40 miles
_____just to go to jail.
Slam the screen door,
_____flip through the mail.
Martin slides the pink slip
_____across the formica
__________table.
_____The principal's
signature signed black.
Dessicated wasps on their backs
_____by the window
behind the dish rack.