The banished
Across the sands the heroes walked
Their bodies and faces heavily chalked
With symbols and lines yellow and red
Some bore the sun
Some the dead
Cracked and wavering
Howling among the breeze
Crows dotted the sky
Above the distant sea
They idled along humming clapping
Searching the horizon
For something to happen
Long past nightfall
Dust clouds still billowing
Trails miles stretching behind them
Reaching round the globe
As far as the mind's-eye goes
We watched we waited
For the hour of woe
Stalwart hold true
Here they are
Closing in
Now stood
Wet stone
Lord almighty
Clean skin
Super shiny
Flip flop
Band aid
Zoom mop
Candy cane
Pelt back
Whirly girlie
Pink snail
Square hankie
Sidecar shoehorn
Moonbeam acorn
Chicken gizzard
Blue room
Red swine
Mean loom
It didn’t matter
We threw everything
Our hands could find
No lessons needed
Our aim was dope
We could without hope
Sling a line like a poet
And bust what was wrote
It was the feel
It was the hustle
Maybe from virtue
Possibly the shuffle
Of feet down the long
Undulating drone
Whiteout
Whitenoise
From downtown
To bitten inn
From bulletin
To righteous grin
They sang with their mouth
In the form of a circle
Slow and dearth
Opened the earth
Right along
Backward
Like the dark man himself
The followers
Seen deep in the course
Seen from across the dry hot sand
Brandishing weapons in their name
Holy sacrifices sacred as vows
Destined to be consumed
Believed holding the tune
Of the naked caw
In something named the now
A passage
Where throwing the heavens
A right a left
Meant saving oneself
They never laid their heads
Only standing upright
Before casting judgment
On any one creature small
Nor large
That may bite
Or gnaw
Set the scales with lead weights
To ensure fair for all
It wasn’t criminal casting gazes
Nor licking spits mans blank pages
Wash your feet brush them teeth
And say the common tongue
But when they amble into your town
Say hi with double mint gum