KA Rees #37 - Dust Coat

Dust Coat

The rain is washing the dust out of the sky;

a red and grey pall stretching along the coast.

The birds flap and flex their wings to wash the dust away,

a noisy mynah shrieks and beaks air, as if to say

A dust coat is a vale of tears

the fields and trees covered so thick and the smell

of fire in the air, a dust coat is a false drink

waving through the sky.

Nick Cave wears a dust coat, the eyes

on his sleeves winking back at black embers,

arms above his head in a slow marionette

spinning across the room, his pockets full of dust.

Kasey Chambers has a dust coat, she carries

it with her on the road. It’s creased and stained

after being packed in her case, but she wears it

every night under the strap of her guitar.

Kim Gordon has a dust coat and matching pants

she wore them meeting a stranger on a train,

she wore them going crazy, she wore them getting sick

she wore them with a hair shirt gifted to her by Thurston Moore.