A Wildcatter Calls it Quits

A Wildcatter Calls it Quits

At twenty, more money than brains,
he spent weekends in Vegas paying for a good time.
He once blew fifteen grand on roulette
and the women, oh the women,
their ever-red fingernails and the makeup
that only the steam of the jacuzzi could lift.

Ten years after the bust,
he buys capped wells and
pumps what is left.
Sometimes, like this time,
he takes his wife and kids to Dallas
to swim in the hotel pool.
He camps out in the sauna, waiting
for someone to listen to stories of blackjack
and thousand dollar hookers.

Corral, 1994.