Fort Lucenne Mall

By Thorin N. Tatge

To "Red Rubber Ball" by Paul Simon

I should have known

it all would fall apart

The shockwaves when you died

were like a bullet through my heart

I never grasped how stultifying hardware stores could be

If I never use a tool again, it's all the same to me

How did it all go so wrong?

I can barely see the light

My life is slowly crumbling like the Fort Lucenne Mall.

First went the house

and then went our respect

All my hard work earns me

is emotional neglect

Now I drive to college towns just to get out of the pen

I'm gasping for that tiny taste of what I could have been

How did it all go so wrong?

I can barely see the light

My life is slowly crumbling like the Fort Lucenne Mall.

I never dreamed

I'd stay in Possum Springs

You made me think something great

was waiting in the wings

I was dumb enough to think that things would be okay

But I think my childhood hopes are finally stocked and packed away

How did it all go so wrong?

I can barely see the light

My life has no more future than the Fort Lucenne Mall.