gone

the circus cast-offs squat in vacant tracts
that automation rendered obsolete
when miners by the thousands got the ax
half Tonopah was turned out in the street
a destination only for the few
who spend their Summers carving up the sky
a ghost-towns heyday many years past due
that hasn't shown the sense to wholly die
there's room to disagree on what it's worth
this dusty wide spot on a desert road
gas station at the tail-end of the earth
where cars are written off if they get towed
now pray your driver gets you to camp base
you've worked so hard to reach this awful place