No one could claim they’d known her

the white knuckle floater

only her one night lover

who killed her when it was all over.

She’d hoped to be one in a hundred

when she came to the city (Nashville)

In search of her fame

and to sing the world’s shame

but she needed time to make it

which she bought learning to fake it

selling her soul

to reach her pure-hearted goal

but she could not have dreamed

that her 15 minutes of fame

would be spent in the river

as the latest white knuckled floater.

CALDER WOLFE