Dead Girl’s Road
Julie Buffaloe-Yoder
.
It’s not the dead ones
you should be afraid of
Jimmy said that time
.
when we were kids
sneaking out
after midnight to hunt
.
for glowing ghost lights
down Dead Girl’s Road.
.
The woods were thick
with ticking crickets,
frogs and bicycle tires
.
and we had Cherry Nehi
on our sticky lips and
walkie talkies made with
two tin cans on a string.
.
We sat in August steam
shivering on a rotten log,
while the big round eyes
of souls rose slowly over
.
warm dark water–a foxfire
of red, yellow and green
around our bare feet.
.
I could feel the heat
of spirits sighing,
climbing up my legs,
.
and he held my thigh
tight to keep me
from running away.
.
Then high school came
and cramps and breasts
swelled and Jimmy
loved me for a while,
.
then he died trying
to chase dragons
made out of cocaine.
.
I was still too young
to hold the moaning
sorrow of ghosts.
.
Instead, I kept the fear
and his spirit clinging
to my bare thighs like
.
summer lights alive
and breathing fire
down Dead Girl’s Road.
.
.
The Buffaloe Pen 