Micah Bateman

FASTEST IN THE WEST

Germs and Steel. N Roses
Young. Of Navarone. Top
Sun’s out. Son of a 

My Life had stood—a Loaded. Man
With the Golden
Johnny Got His Annie Get Your

A Girl Is a
Twenty-one salute. Lone man
God &. The Sop anos

Year of the Hour of the
Under the
Stranger Wore a

For a Coward. Shot wedding
That Won the West
Guitar Or a. Smoke. Smoking

Happiness Is a Warm
If I Had a
I’m Gonna Get Me a

I’ve Got a Janie’s Got a
Knife to a fight
Shot Blues Shot Girl Shot Shoes Shot

Willie. Stick to your
All blazing. Sure as a
Go down firing. Shy

To your head. Jump the pull a
It, meaning accelerate your engine
To ride shot. Going great

For, meaning to target someone
Its metonymic sense, the thing as used
To stand in

For the man holding it,
Typically a hired assassin.

MICAH BATEMAN is an assistant professor of library and information science at the University of Iowa. Winner of the Poetry Society of America's Lyric Poetry Award, he has served as a poetry editor for River Styx.