i don't keep much stuff around

i value my portability

but i will say that i have saved

every letter you ever wrote to me

the one you left on my windshield

outside of that little motel

is in the pocket of my old gig bag

from back when life was more soft shell



letters littered with little lewd pictures

drawn by the ghost of woody guthrie

who would use you big thick hand

just to draw one or two for me



i think of your letters as love letters

which is how i think of songs

in that it is the writing of them

that tends to carry us along

and i danced to one of your old tunes

with my true love on our wedding day

and you voice sang the way my heart would sing

if it finally knew just what to say



two people pulled over on the same night

to look up at the same stars

they both found their wheels were spinning

in a soft shoulder

when they both got back into their cars

and they missed fates appointed rendezvous

and then a whole lotta time wnet by

and then one day they were done

worshipping the landscape

and they just put down their hands

and moved into the sky



they had barely said hello and it was time to say goodbye