A Forgotten Land

I love these back roads..
there are not many gravel roads left,
at least not compared to when I was a kid.
Russ just saw a deer..
if the window was down he would have bolted.
He has no control when it comes to chasing anything that will run from him.
Looks like it is clearing up, warming up..
back to a normal 50 degrees instead of 25 and snow..
The snow was nice,
but this feels right.
I am riding out to where my dad was born.
The old house he grew up in is just a ruin.
The chimney is pretty much the only thing standing,
a few boards that made up the ceiling look like the skeleton of an old memory.
The property belongs to one of my cousins now,
he keeps saying he is going to build on it but never does.
His goats have kept the place brush free and it almost has the look of a manicured estate,
except for the ruins, you would think it part of a well cared for land,,
but it is a forgotten land.
And for the most part, until he died,
my father was a forgotten land for me.
To be honest, I think it has a lot to do with Seth.
He and I had just been to see him this past summer.
On the drive out there Seth asked me questions about James.
We spent three days with him and saw Willie Nelson at an outdoor concert.
There is a pretty famous venue close to Henderson TX where he played.
It was a great day.
They had a mechanical bull and it was pretty funny watching folks get bucked off.
James and I sat up on the hill overlooking the field that made up the seating in front of the stage.
We talked about country music and what it sounds like today..
"They don't sing about anything worth a damn anymore! We all know how country we are,
we don't need some pedicured pretty boy telling us how country he is!
Seems like most of the songs are about being clever and not about being honest.
Hag was always honest,, listen to Working Man, Momma Tried, Kern River.."
James didn't hold back about his contempt, it seemed very important to him.

Jesse
Oxford

wkm
The Horses
Oxford MS