Six Shots for Clint Eastwood

1.

An eye

and a holster

are one.

An eye, a holster,

and a smoking

six gun

are one

fewer.

2.

Under the brim,

A squinted eye:

darkness visible.

This is the good.

The iris is composed

of flint.

3.

Oh thin men of Haddam

what do you know of hunger?

The yawning vista

speaks a wider emptiness.

4.

Beyond the whiteness of the dove's covenant

and the blackness of squalling blackbirds,

one man stands.

Dust only

colors

his broad, flat hat.

5.

A man rides across the desert:

his hips are merely an extension

of horses. A tree rooted

in a rolling soil.

6.

I don’t know which to prefer

the beauty of inflection

or the beauty of innuendo,

Clint Eastwood smiling

or just after.