Learning

Thinker Steve goes back east of the mountains,
to Denver, and walks across the parking lot
to a classroom, a lecture hall,
a coffee shop, util it's time to leave.

He comes back to where the ground is uneven,
the hot air is a blunt weapon,
the scent is a mule named Barney.
The education did me some good, he says,
but the earth did me some better.

Pistol Jimmy gets in a brawl
behind the Buckhorn Tavern,
it doesn't end well.
Thinker Steve comes to the hospital
to visit the results. The air is bad

in here, says Steve, I can smell the plastic
parts, the glue, the industrial cleaner,
the people in here are going to get sick.
The nurse says I'm not feeling too good

myself. Thinker Steve grabs the nurse
and goes back to where the ground is uneven.
Pistol Jimmy says he's learned
enough about doctoring, it's time to leave.

Back at the Buckhorn
Bill Martin says let that be a lesson,
Pistol Jimmy doesn't take to lecturing,
it doesn't end well.