Ballad of Another Rural Town that Listens to Way Too Much Country Music, by J.B. Stone

Where the roads are paved in
Jesus, beer, and patriotism a

polygon formation of tailgating
youths, speak of their ghosts as

the passerby populous from another
time. Ten-gallon-hat phantoms nod
their heads in pity, as a tandem of

redneck boys and girls sweep these
fields with a tide of red, white, and
blue tank tops, accompanied by drunk

Texas two-steps, square-dancing leather
hide, poorly camouflaged into the vision

of a damaged prairie. A wave of human
ignorance, skins the excess folds of these

evergreen knolls into the empty acreage
of moss-covered skeletons. Telling a new
story of faux ideals, as frontiers of old wither

away with the stories, once monogramming
meaning onto this plateau, instead of desperate
mediocrity.

 

Published 22nd of May 2019 

 

About J.B. Stone 

J.B. Stone is a neurodivergent writer from Brooklyn, NY now residing in Buffalo. He is the author of two chapbooks, A Place Between Expired Dreams And Renewed Nightmares (Ghost City Press 2018). He is also the Reviews Editor for Coffin Bell Journal. His reviews and poetry have appeared in Maudlin HouseGlass, Occulum, and elsewhere.