VISUAL PROMPT
Prompt submitted by Tenshi

Write a poem about what streetlights make you think of.
NO FAITH NO LOSS
_Ext. farmhouse. Two figures lean against a wooden fence that runs along an empty dirt road. One of the men, a bullrider called NO FAITH, faces away from his companion, a street racer called AIN’T WON A THING, as they watch the sky turn dark. _
NO FAITH
You know, it’s not quiet, good folk who live in the empty part of Texas. The city is an hour away from the country, and you street racers love a dirt road.
_AIN’T WON A THING shifts slightly, and crosses his arms._
AIN’T WON A THING
Bullriders love a pretty car.
NO FAITH
That we do. Pretty people, too, but I don’t got as many belt buckles as the girls would like.
AIN’T WON A THING
Ha. I bet you’d be a good driver. Girls in my scene don’t care if you’re a loser. They want you for the car that does donuts in the parking lot, that makes people stop at the gas station to get a picture. For the lowrider bodykit, the LED headlights, the five zeroes on the price tag. You don’t matter.
NO FAITH
That doesn’t sound all that fulfilling.
AIN’T WON A THING
I think it’s great. Are you fulfilled, now? Riding on an animal that wants you dead for a crowd that boos when they call your name?
NO FAITH
Better than running from the cops every night. Better than havin’ my mama wait up for me. Better than your steel horse that could kill you, too.
AIN’T WON A THING
How can it be better if you don’t love it?
NO FAITH
What’s the point? It’s the life that was meant for me.
AIN’T WON A THING
You weren’t meant for this life. You believe in God?
_NO FAITH is quiet for a moment._
NO FAITH
Not really.
AIN’T WON A THING
There’s your answer.
NO FAITH
The point being that God left the gears turning and us all alone?
AIN’T WON A THING
No. It’s that God doesn’t give a shit what you do and neither does anyone else. There is no divine path for you or your kind. Bullriders have no god besides the dust beneath their boots. Neither do the speed junkies of my forsaken city. Houston is for the people who choose to be someone. So be someone.
NO FAITH
How? How can I be someone else if I’ve been this my whole life?
AIN’T WON A THING
Something tells me that it isn’t really your life you’ve been living. Was your daddy a bullrider?
_NO FAITH looks down at the ground and does not offer a reply._
AIN’T WON A THING
Boys ain’t meant to be extensions for their fathers to live through. Spout your family values all you want, but you ain’t alive if you aren’t doing something that makes you want to live.
_The sun fully sets and the pinpricked night sky begins to show. Neither of the men say anything else, but they kick rocks together as the moon rises._