of his dime store compass
on the Texas-Arkansas-Louisiana map
and drew the radius of our known
artistic world.
With our Derelicts Awash epic
already on demo cassette
we would parade our wares
up and down 59 and I-20
until something clicked.
As a place holder
Mike took a job
as maintenance man
in a Dallas apartment
complex.
It was there,
on break in a hot tub
after work,
that a massive epileptic seizure
ended his life
and our plans.