Wild Pigs Outsmart Local Authorities In Marshall, Texas

Marshall is the wood paneled den
we kids didn't go in
because it was for old people
and old people things:
trophies, deer heads
and 8 by 10 framed glossies of long dead folk,
a place tired people rested,
a place of senseless beauty
and clay-colored leather,
runcible, bruised and somehow oily;
playing there wasn't only taboo,
it was out of place.

Marshall smells of pine, cedar
coveralls and rubbing alcohol.
Driving through downtown
is like walking across the creaky
hardwood floor of an abandoned church:
it makes you want to pass through quietly
out of respect for the ghosts
and those who pine for them.

I lope over the sunburned brick
past the labyrinth of boarded-up buildings
and unfathomable motives,
stop,
sniff the air
and detect no scent
of fevered passion
or aroused welcome.

Tags: funny video, viral video, vlogging, east Texas, Marshall, wild pigs, trophies, deer heads, wood paneled den, poem, poetry, poet, a place of senseless beauty, piney woods, sunburned brick, jarvis, marquisdejolie