Would something like this be appropriate?
Sometimes I play pretend.
Four feet tall, the masked rider strikes down the red man.
Bang. Bang. Bang. You’re dead.
Am not.
Are too.
But then it went away.
I looked at my pale white gun,
Cocked at the thumb,
and put it in my pocket
For the final time.
Jimmy, Johnny, Jerry,
whatever his name was,
used to be that dirty injun.
He forgot about me.
I was alone.
I play pretend sometimes.
Take out my pale white revolver
and stare at it for a while.
Try to imagine it turning black,
Cocked at the thumb.
I was walking in the rain one afternoon
and, it felt like bullets.
I saw Sally, Jenny, Amy,
whatever her name was,
choked on my own contempt
and was gone before I got there.
I made myself forget about playing pretend.
I’m too old for these stupid games.
I am tired.
Put that pale white six shooter away, kid.
You might actually hurt yourself one day.
But I am just playing pretend.
|