High Noon

A storm’s been gathering
on the Horizon for months now.
- Nathalie Graham, “But, Rosa”

Clouds gallop across
the aerial frontier. 13 years old.
A cowboy with pants pockets

for gun holsters. I slingshot stones
at the heads of flowers

and do my wishbone walk
into the horizon like the heroes
in Westerns after slaying

bad guys. I could be
Don Quixote rushing

at what I think are monsters.
Friends say the real ones carry guns
and shiny badges.

Dad says my mind?s loose
as rope. Might use it

to lasso the sun.
Hogtie it to a cloud stallion
and ride, and ride.