MEREDITH MACLEOD DAVIDSON

Abecedarian on Cowboy Carter

America! We are all trauma
bonding our way through a collapse
circus penned by the death cult
debtors with diamond dreams. One more
expedition to our folk
freedom roots. Deconstructed,
genre can be God or gossip, giddy-up, guns.
Hallelujah! Honey, heal your
independence. There’s only so much space in these
jeans. Justice. Cooks in the
kitchen. Oh yes, cowboy, we’re bucking tradition.
Local legends re-excavated, ain’t that archival
mercy! The public discourse, attention
needs so much tending.
Once we’ve pantomimed our own farcical power,
pray for purpose. Praise
quiet, country, women and
rhinestones. Reckoning both renaissance and requiem,
soil smoked with ambulant souls. Trapping
tyrants between snaps and tambourine twang,
using influence to fill
vacancies in those willful
Western minds,
xanthic with imperial rot. These voices
yank you back to yourselves. Joy, something
zealous, human.

Meredith MacLeod Davidson is a poet and writer from Virginia, currently based in Scotland, where she earned an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow. Meredith's work is published or forthcoming in The London Magazine, Propel Magazine, Cream City Review, The Boiler, Gutter, and elsewhere. Connect with Meredith on Instagram: @mairmacleod