| Thunder Sandwich #17
|
 dweeb by jeff filipski |
| TROUT DANCING SONATA "july, l947, sol paridise leaving new york with a few veteran benefit dollars, crazy long-haired hipster, dawn of jazz america, following purity of the road to denver, visiting larimer gang, old colfax bars and poolhalls with dean," up early, delius "walk in the garden" good soft music, brewing first morning coffee, steaming, bubbling rhythm, bard house saturated with delicious aromas, sweet spent sperm, crockpot rice, blackeye peas, garlic odors, snow falling in huge icy clusters, alberta "clipper" quietly accumulating higher drifts, thin thermometer line vanishing, saskathewan "screamer" blizzard winds, snowplows quitting, "can't see, can't see," white outs, snowbound 3-4 days, no bus to the university, classes canceled, most businesses closing, myra still asleep, jumble of long blond hair covering her face, shoulders, last night saying "light a candle, take me from behind, like european misstress," "texas city blew up and burned yesterday, flames spreading along docks, several petroleum companies exploding, 377 dead, 200 more missing in rubble," kissing, licking, drinking bodies warm fluids, myra's low purring, "oh poet, ohhhhhhhhh," two souls soaring on single set of wings, not needing mardi gras, mexican day of the dead masks and feathers to hide nakedness, myra's steady feline growl erupting in orgasmic frenzy deep beyond wet fleshy folds, thinking back to sperm rush of my irish father, egg-cum embryo of danish mother, painful past history, poor farmers, immigrating to america, working thin soils, at mercy of unpredicatable weather, lands owned by town bankers, "laurence olivier directing and acting the role of hamlet bleached his hair twice weekly to appear more danish," margaret, daughter of thorvald andreason, distant roots to country producing kierkegaard, isak dinesen, copenhagen harbor "little mermaid" statue, emery, son of tilman cormac, raised in stories of "black 47," famine, auld sod of joyce, o'casey, yeats, pagen druid priests, early december morning deep silence, drawn back into time of youth, mind fixed on l947, images, faces, happenings racing past like old pathe' newsreel fea- ures, ancient life magazine pages hastily turning, "'allegro' had a serious plot and almost no scenery or chorus line, demille dancers served as a chorus chanting actors roles," ww ii finished, ve and vj day celebrations over, rationing ended, 50's jobs and prosperity looming, gi bill for returning veterans, "old war" with russia distant threat, anti-communism still small consid- eration in spite of truman doctrine, military tensions growing in asia, six-grader, home in first ward addition, cub scout den meetings, build- ing balsa model airplanes, weekend "oaters" at local rialto, "freedom train visited 300 united states communities, giving citizens the chance to view l28 important american historical documents, includ ing the bill of rights," growing up in three rivers, michigan, small midwestern papermill town, young boy who couldn't wait to bail out, reflecting now on college degrees, marriages, divorces, "on the road" ramblings, wondering if life spent struggling to get back to small town sanctuary again, "'great expectations' a cine portrayal of dickens characters, pip, miss haversham, estelle, an unknown benefactor, set in somber, hungry l840's england," aging graybeard poet living in kimberly-clark mill town on south lake superior shore, faithful to joyce dictum, "silence, cunning, exile," "retire on life income of $l50 a month when you reach age 60, phoenix mutual retirement income plan guarantees your future," accepting wisdom of poet huffstickler, "stop, stay, settledown when you find the right place," no sense being prisoner in multi-lan interestate gridlock, sickening motor-exhaust fumes, shrieking semi's air brakes, insane rat race frenzy to reach steel-concrete-glass-brick-chrome metropolitan meccas of civilization, little enthusiasm for adventure, trekking in wilderness outback filling with creosote posts, macadam packing lots, diorama historical intrepret ations, "400 members of a motorcycle club roared into hollister over july 4th, running into bars and restaurants, breaking furniture and mirrors," wrinkled old man shaking out achy joints, hoping a couple of good years more, exasperated, "oh hell, just one more day, one more," ancient poet praying, "one more good woman, please dear god," knowing lady who can smile at, laugh with graying wordsmith, "they told me to take a streetcar named 'desire,' . . . i'm looking for my sister stella dubois, i mean mrs. stanley kolwalski," leaving instant intimacy to young boys racing playboy testosterones, boiling "cosmo girl" hormonal "i've got needs," desires, passing solitary odysseys to discover sacred resting place for late night when the owl calls me through dry rustling, warped leaves, remote wilderness shrine in deep woods for bleached smooth skull and white bones, gentle evening breezes scattering decayed dusty re- mains under moon and stars, hiking far back into porcupine mountains, two, three days alone, like jeremiah johnson mountain man, searching, fording carp river, cutting down hidden deer path, scaling loose talus, rocky scree, standing atop lafayette escarpment summit, graybeard shouting "best things in life aren't things," "get a life, not a lifestyle," "stop performing and start living" to forest ghosts, old mine shaft camp, nights hoping visit from black "trickster" coyote, spirit to guide me in after-life shadows, thinking of early miners, bold crazy men looking for riches, adventure, escaping old world tryanny, seeking freedom, young tilman cormac fleeting black potato rot, hunger, death, work- houses, rulebooks, tenant landlords, jail, leaving behind tales of fairies, banshees, leprechauns, memories of rich irish stews, heavy porridges, thick pancakes, irish whiskey, "california's land of lonely exiles and lovers at the end of america, no place to go but back, road ghosts of cassady and jack heading home through texas, wahoo old san antoine white line fevers," thor andreason yielding to nervous danish stirrings of wanderlust, wait- ing in langeline, "quay of dreams," for atlantic passage, dreams of owning land, building log cabine home, leaving poverty be- hind, living by strict lutheran scriptures, fear of god's ever-avenging finger, "'shoeshine' showed two postwar boys lost in poverty and blackmark- et hustling, and men without faith in their god, society, or selves," picking paperback, camus's the stranger out of myra's college camp- us tote, turning pages to funeral scene, "street a patch of freshly tarred road, glimmer of heat played over it, -- smells of hot leather and horse dung from the hearse -- could hardly drag myself along," "george marshall called for an european recovery program , plans for partition of palestine outlined, india and pakistan become independ- ent and separate nations, comintern established in warsaw," remembering camus's the plague won the "prix des critiques" in l947, story of the death of small, innocent child, challenging church's scriptural concepts of god's righteousness, camus posing question, without hope should a human live ony for the moment, letting immediate circumstances direct life's decisions, "flying saucers, millions in college under the g.i. bill, transitor invented, jet plane breaks sound barrier, polaroid camera patented, reddi-whip aerosol can marketed," changing delius, switching "in the garden" for respighi's "pines of rome," turned low, not disturbing myra's slumbering, recalling our first meeting, sunday early-morning newspaper hike, quick "good morning" so not strange frightening shadow suddenly looming, learning of saturday night kegger party, old high-school friends home from college, in town for family christmas celebrations, myra saying, "i just got tired of their self-absorbed bullshit, big deal about buying new car air freshner, holy waugh, get a life, eh," her shy, "yes, call me about coffee or breakfast next trip to marquette, i think i'd like that," parting with girlish smile and wave, sweetwater cafe, potent imported coffee, black russian rye toast, honey butter spread, learning about myra's father, mother, older sister, younger bro, later browsing used bookstore shelves, finding worn copy of may sarton's solitude, telling myra, "here, let me know what you think of this sometime," "kaiser-frazer willow run plant producing, dealers now delivering, tucker, a new car with proven old engineering principles," our italian mad feast date, chianti aperitif, spaghetti-lasagna mixed with chicken livers, mushrooms, spumoni topped with creme de menthe dessert, grand marais, cafe de capagrossa holiday, estella and isadore ever attentive cook, waitress and host, primo celebrity treatment for old poet, his lady friend, old tannery road, taking long way home, fats domino tune, "look at me, i'm in love again, "humming inside the brain, headlights suddenly picking up black roadkill cat's body, steamy mists, edge of tall highway grasses, embracing myra tightly, bodies shaking, shivering, weeping hot salty tears, feeling warm growing passions, whispering, "i gotta take you home, now," myra's pleading, "no, no, take me, tom, oh please take me," stumbling through back door, breathless, clothes scattering, dragging our bodies over carpet shag, kicking walls, knocking over telephone, spilling bottle of young chablis, burying tongue in moist slippery pussy, wishing to swim tides in dark womb interiors, back to sea, source of life's beginning, passing "near death" orgasmic moans, remembering dave castleman poem taped on writing lamp shade, "mercy, do you ask for mercy, you will be given a toad and bucket of salt and nothing more, do not ask for more, there is none," basking in warm afterglow, whispering, "stay, stay, please, myra, i am young when i am with you," talking until lost in drowse, finding old paperback, rommel drives on deep in egypt, reading favorite brautigan love poem, "we stopped at perfect days, and got out of the car, the wind glanced at her hair, it was as simple ast that, i turned to say something-----" "'lll killed in mine explosion and fire at centralia illinois coal company no 1 shaft, 540 feet below the earth's surface," mrya saying, "i want to love you, tom, for what little time we have to- gether, to listen and learn," quietly both of us worrying about "betrayal, betrayal, betrayal," failure of our trust me, trust you promises and commitment, graybeard's past track record poor, quittijg high school senior year, ex-wives, sons, daughter scattered living in parts distant, leaving univer sity ph-d program, "big book" recovery candidate dropout, black nights thinking 357 mag- num ticket to ride, worried surprised cameo visits, femme ghosts from past, "buchenwald judge sentences 22 to hang, gives others terms of life imprisonment," feeling "go to gamer" challenge still strong, telling myra, "we'll work at it lady, we'll keep the faith, continue trusting and believing, eh," like hoary old tom cat living out its final life of nine, fur electric thicket,, spritzy step, blood quietly singing, cormac and andreason immigrant famers, families, quickly learning vision of arcadian prosperity, happiness cruel myth, diphtheria, smallpox, cholera, killing babies, innocents, bloodline supposed protected, parents accepting not wise to love their children too much, unpredicatable climates, failed crops, in debt too far to get out, para- noid everyone's out to rob them, accusing "they'd steal pennies off a dead man's eyes," past corma, andreason ancestry collecting yellow racists newsletters, kkk robes, hoods, growing fears of mongrel european hordes destroying american way of life, never-ending miseries, pastoral dreams forgotten, feeling no hope, choosing suicide by cleansing fire, toxic acids, newspaper reports "baby murder mother suicide, family poisoning, witchcraft madness, carbolic acid sucide, farm-arson-sabotage," my father, emery cormac, mother margaret andreason, fleeing grinding farm poverty, punishing hard work, finding city place of freedom, greater opportunity, "summer, l947, san francisco of dean moriarty, mystic hills, vast green pacific, ghost of jack london floating in raw fog, hanging out in cafe 'trieste,' north beach poet, sending penny postcards home to memere," farm sons, daughters becoming store clerks, warehouse hands, maids, some a year study state normal college, teaching manual arts, home economics, coaching, "postage stamp 3 cents, loaf of bread l0 cents, quart of mile l5 cents, minimus wage 65 cents, average house price l2,638 dollars, price of new car l,649 dollars, life magazine 20 cents," one evening watching "the third man" with myra, "the zither music, myra listen to anton karas's zither music," telling her black-and-white the true artistic film medium, joseph cotton's boozy come on to "alida," saying, "i'm just a hack writer who drinks too much and falls in love with girls," thinking back to l947 HUAC hearings, testimony of communist in- fluences in movies, "hollywood l0" indicted, blacklisted by film industry "ring lardner jr., dalton trumbo, samuel drinitz, john howard lawson, alvah bessie, adrian scott, edward dmytryk, lester cole, herman leiberman, albert maltz," testimony of some actors sounding curious today as in l947, adolphe menjou declaring, "the minority of communists in hollywood are highly dangerous because of the sinister way they operate," war paper rationing over, publishing companies looking for new writing talents, life identifying "new young writers of l947," "truman capote, thomas heggan, gore vidal, jean stafford, calder willingham, elizabeth fenwick, peggy godwin, amy chidester," sleep well, my dear sweet myra, tonight we have to discuss politics of christmas, delicate gift choices, over the holiday visitings with myra's family, recalling cormac christmas celebrations, santa-believer leaving eve snack, joyful over wax crayon "thank you" next morning, young christmas toy bandit, time long ago feeling stiffed, unwrapping present, finding book with my name in it, helping mother bake yule treats, lebkuchen, pfeffernuese, pinwheels, peanut butter cookies with fork time impression, licking clean mixing bowls, spatula, massive busby berkeley hopping elementary school christmas festive extravvaganzas, each classroom with special holiday presentation for "all school pageant," holiday vacations listening to "nutcracker suite," over and over again, large coaxial speaker booming from rca victrola, radio, "ah yes, myra, there was life before television, believe me," mar- velous radio creating space for a young boy's imagination to froth and boil, "tennesee jed, dick tracy, sky king, jack armstrong 'the all american boy,' terry and the pirates, superman, tom mix," saturday mornings, "let's pretend," sundays lamont cranston, "the shad ow," inner sanctum's squeaking door, don artiste playing pianos at ware house 79, hartz mountain canaries merrily chirping, old bluebird and decca "era of the big bands" spinning on record turntable, now probably tiny shards buried in scattered black dust, "guy lombardo, harry james, benny goodman, glenn miller, jimmy and tommy dorsay, fred waring, les brown, claude thornhill," "for sentimental reasons," "i wish i didn't love you so," "linda," "mam'selle," "old lamplighter," "an apple blossom wedding," dad's old notre dame "fight song" record with knute rockne yelling his halftime pep talk to football playrers reverse side, rainy saturdays poring over old life magazines, cosy attic retreat, stunning bob capa photos, soldiers at war, in combat pics, waving at g.i.'s in trucks from dad's office steps, never thinking young boys off to die in some distant place, anzio, iwo jima, bastonge, tobruk, "united states army goggles, amazing offer, now at your grocer's, no extra cost when you buy two packages of cheerios," walgreen drugstore fountain cherry cokes, hotel de hamburger "de- luxe" with fries, galenti's friday night dinners, all you can eat spaghetti specials with parmesan, garlic, hot ralston breakfasts, mother still asleep, dad perking coffee in old silex drip pot, squeezing orange juice with seeds, pulp in the glass, off to school, days with cloth flour bag marble collection, prized "pea- nuts lowery" autographed baseball mitt, riding bike days not rainy, brief innocent years of valentine hearts, easter bunny eggs and cand- ies, may day front stoop baskets, masked halloween tricks and treats, milkdud, juicyfruit rialto saturdays, 15 cent double-features, catching stoic coolness of bogart, times mother overlooked her parents maga- zine movie suggestions, rummaging myra's bookbag for felt-tip pen, finding "am lit. ii" course outline, hemingway's a moveable feast, professor's first choice, hadley and hem young paris lovers, flower women, pushcarts, dark wine cellars, smokey west bank bistros, montparnassee sidewalk cafes, bluesy "round midnight" jazz, ghost of piaf, old dex's alto, night train to schruns, connection to bagneres on way south to pamplona, noting english department courses, "writing with passion," "writing poetry with jazz and blues," thinking waste of time, money, just fill pack with cheap pork and beans, econo vin blanc, copy of on the road, crank up volume with old patsy cline, hank sr., vintage coltrane, let the brain-skull rip, "a lynch mob took willie earle from his pickens, south caroline cell, beat him, stabbed him, blew his head off with three shotgun blasts," thinking again of notske, beautiful black woman, los angeles poet and playwriter, our painful heartbreak, separation, her whispering, "take these my good man," pressing two soul rings tightly in my palms, old graybeard fighting back tears, later "notz" sobbing, "oh, troutman, pleased don't go, don't leave me, i love you so very much," my love a city cat and upper peninsula living soon a prison existence, backwater redneck swamper prejudices quickly taking their toll, as i would perish in nervous la la metro go go, like pedigreed pet abandoned in wilderness, terror of dark shadows, predators, "a greenville, south carolina jury acquitted all 26 accused of lynching willie earle, the courtroom broke into a celebration between friends and relatives after the verdict," thinking brautigan probably right, "love is not the way to treat a friend," love is giving up what you truly desire, black notzke lost in misty distant dreams, "sugar ray robinson knocked jimmy doyle down with a hard right in the eight round, doyle died l7 hours later," late spring morning, driving myra out adams trail to kingston plains to pick blueberries, leisurely "r & r" among old pine stump sentinels, kilgore korners stop for brats, mozarella string cheese, two bottles of chilled brothers christian, myra adding box of tampax, "jersey joe wolcott beat joe louis to the punch, knocking him down in the lst and 4th rounds, the once great 'brown bomber' had lost his speed and sharpeness at 33," plains full of plump, ripe "blues," easy noontime picking, lunch over pine knot coals, silent minutes of sleepy drowse after, thinking back on life's blood chapters, baseball catcher skull fracture, collection of bloodied noses, football shivers, basketball forearms, hockey goalie taking puck in the face, motorcycle wipeout, black stain soaking jeans leg, next day back riding, angry "sum-bitch" wouldn't go faster, young husband, father cutting self with razor, smearing "love me, help me" pleas on bathroom mirror, nurse, blood-stained apron telling me, "it's a boy," after caryl's caesar- ian, relief from fear the baby born dead, weeks flushing bloody shit down toilet, sure it was fatal "big c," braving doctor's visit, discovering only hemorrhoids, morning existential musings, knowing if i don't stop drinking, poet's liver will explode, leaving me drowning in life's vital fluids, "museum of modern art in new york exhibited works by alfred stei- glitz and henry-cartier-brisson in l947, edward steichen was named director of photography, l947 saw publication of malcom lowry's under the volcano, story of single day of an british consul celebrating mexican "day of the dead" as his life plunged deeper into a personal hell, lowry's geoffrey firmin's reflected, "he reaches the summit -- but there was nothing there -- not life, no substance -- it was collapsing too -- while he was falling into the volcano," snow drifts continuing to grow higher outside, sipping special blend "luzianne" coffee, changing music to beethoven's "moonlight sonata," hoping myra wakes in time to se hale bopp comet, before fades, lost in first dawn light, mists over grand island, drifting back to college freshman year, young married father of robin lynn, daytime classes, nights working printing company hours, aceing senior level modern european history class, doc berry telling me community colleges were growing, suggesting apply for fellowship, stay on, to graduate work, bailing out of marriage, wearying of in law pressures to quit school, earn real money, buy stuff for their daughter, robin, realizing i was growing, developing new ideas, exciting interests, while gail still frozen in high school "cuteness," sterile vocabulary, graduate school studies passing blur, days, comstock high school teacher, working kalamazoo post office, holiday hours and pay, classes, library studying, reading, research time, writing mater's thesis, passing orals, earning m.a. degree, lost trophy room bar weekends, killing brain cells, winning 8 ball contests, portarge street pool champ, grabbing diploma, heading up the highway, abortive east lansing ph-d candidate, short while before "bitch goddess of success" casualty, dropout, interim olffasson tool-and-die worker on the way to kellogg community college teaching contract, campus in battle creek, young professor on cutting edge, exciting dangerous american history, vietnam protests, black civil rights demonstrations, sds advisor, moment after port huron statement, wildass meetings, speakers ranting, "all those not with us are fascist motherfuckers," home telephone tapped, strange men in plain cars taking pictures outside battle creek home, name in michigan "red files," added to fbi dossier, suddenly like failed benedictine monk losing faith, no longer believing in "it" anymore, not certain what the real "it" was, seeking solitary solace, searching for answers, nirvana in dark murky brown bottle shadowy depths, leaving home, abandoning wife, sons, ted and mike, daughter casey, difficult visit to kalamazoo, telling mother of another failure, divorce, lost alcoholic weekends, monday morning faculty washroom mirror stare downs, determined "don't let the bastards get you down" gut checks before first early class lecture, momentary peace, zen-nada athletic trance, noon-hour basketball tough jock "game face" release, swearting out poisons, easing alcoholic assault of kidneys, liver, pancreas before suffering serious massive emotional meltdown, two-week battle creek sanitarium "detox" outpatientstay, hard switch from bushmills and bud breakfasts to thorazine prescription, miraculously lasting out semester, escaping campus, driving north summering in upper peninsula wilderness, heading mind and soul, labor day, returning below the bridge, new semester, same old administrative bullshit, educational politics, hanging on until another may, musing around evening campfires, owls, coyotes, black bears, brook trout, old indian, lumberjack ghost companions, one morning scribbling a poem, now realizing verse a discovery start- ling as alchemist producing gold with pestle and mortar, "robinson broke major league baseball's 'apartheid' and jackie had had to be twice as good just to be equal, his enthusiasm and daring changing the game," l947 ted williams batted .343, ewell 'the whip' blackwell won 22 games, gionfridddo made miracle grab of dimag world series homer, college all-americans, lujack, doak walker, bednarik, poole, bobby layne won the all-star football game at soldier's field, chicago cardinals defeated philadelphia eagles 28-21, becoming professional football champions, "maurice rose won the l947 indianapolis 500 race in 4 hours and l4 minutes, "shorty" cantlon was killed when his car crashed into the track's south wall," poet as young boy growing up, preferring "existential loner" athletes over those starring in winning team efforts, "graziano sent champion zale reeling across the ring, as the referee stopped the fight, rocky, new middleweight king was shouting, "i wanta kill him,'" graying exiled upper peninsula artist like other creative personas, working alone, drawn to solitary blood sports, single athletes living on the edge, "manolete was fatally gored in linaries, spain, the matador died l0 hours later after four blood transfusions at age 30," ah, sweet slumbering myra, creative muse for old poet, no longer beowulf "shadow goer," dark early morning voyeur wandering munising backwater streets, seeking answers, myra's comforting presence muting old nightmares, library park hotel, other sro lodgings, second floor walkups, shower, bath, end of the hall, no television, her soft, "i love you, tom," like relief hearing english words, prince ed- ward island radio station, black night terror turning miles on gaspe peninsula escape long time ago, "bugsy siegel, operater of the flamingo club in las vegas was shot and killed while visiting his girlfriend virginia hill in beverly hills," changing to prokofiev concertos, myra stirring, mumbling, "thmmm," falling back asleep, house clutter, tangle of clothes, shoes, books, notebooks, boots, scattered newspaper clippings, delicious aromas of woman in love, quick glance again, scopping out hal-bopp gauzy comet, leaving lumenscent trail across high early morning sky, feeling fortunate to live, witness passing seasonal rhythms, summer passing into autumn, changing northern time of "long white," hoping to outlast another upper peninsula "ice out," enjoy return of breathe it, smell it spring, recalling line from carruth's scrambled eggs and whiskey poem, "the one clean pure light in the world that comes to us from the north," "taft lashed out at communists, new dealers, c.i.o., and the presi- dent, taxes are too high, goverment spending too costly, united states foreign policy is muddled," graybeard's lake superior shore home, vast watery expanse like large irish island, distant danish peninsula surrounded by ocean tides, literary roots with kierkegaard and dinesen, already living true to joyce dictum, observing "silence, cunning, exile," starving artist poverty by choice, denying anal compulsive miserly hoarding, foolish "get more, get it now" measue of value, growing beyond racist fears, understanding impossibility of hating foreigners without first hating myself, still fixed, l947 school boy innocence, believing in hitting homerum, scoring touchdown, rallying, winning the game, now late in life discovering poetry, exhilarating rush choosing words that sing true as fine musical compositions, already too much time squandered, wasted on past personal dross, false ideas of passion, confusions over what society others say must be, "gerhart eisler was charged with conspiracy against the united states government, a letter from f.b.i. director j. edgar hoover suggested that eisler may have done spying himself," troutman poet and myra living simply together, reading, sharing pass- ages, poetry, cooking, napping, loving, hours filled with music, mornings, cline, k.t., k.d., afternoons, "carmina burana," vivaldi, resphigi, nightly gershwin, "bolero," jazz, celtic tunes, ballads, myra often lost deep in musings, having to remind her, "myra, time to eat, taste this, eh, let's brush your hair, i'll run the shower," so strong, full, our telepathy and felt passions usually communicating without words, sounds, "the dies committee red hunt was really a headline hunt, it was al- ways ready to make wild charges and it smeared many innocent people," playing stravinsky's "rites of spring" often, knowing soon "ice out," creative backwater off season solitude ending, returning sun soon burning shadows past last fall's leaves, hardy survivors still hanging on, turgid stream and river tides again washing winter detritus into larger superior lake reservoir, isolated backwoods sloughs, wildflowers poking through matted leafy humus, dead grassy mulch, signaling finis to yooper "long white," passing upper peninsula season locals describe as "eleven months of winter, two, maybe three weeks of tough sledding," myra, here poet waiting perfect spring morning, early pale dawn rising over grand island, munising bay waters, shafts of light with accumulated winter dust warming, kicking up adams trail gravel, leaving huge dusty clouds, drive to hurricane river delta, watching boiling tides rushing into big lake waters together, our "quay of dreams," wandering through trout lillies, wild violets like old rogue bear leaving his den, shaking out matted fur, thinking about ripe berries, hiking barefoot along shore, toes turning over shiny stones, hoping perfect agate prize, holding small rocks close to ears, listening, hoping for words, message, music, wisdom from eons of patient waiting, "chinese communists abandoned their capital of yenan and fell back into the hill surrounding the city as nationalist soldiers advanced into the city," embracing myra's soft body, lightly kissing wet hungry lips, rubbing breasts smooth, hard as ripe spring pears, staring beyond her open eyes to little girl memories, too soon blurred, fading vision, forced final sighs, faint whispered goodbye, "thor heyerdahl crashed his raft the 'kon tiki' on the pacific reef raroia after sailing 4,300 miles from peru in l0l days," poet returning on his swing around the sun, chasing halley, trycho brache, biela, ikeya seki, other streaking comets, hoping to hear forgotten mother's little tommy lullabies, ancient celtic sea shantys, gaelic hymns from past blood history, warm company on long journey, circling universe again before swing- ing around, flying back home once more. |
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| ISSN: 1534-4037 |
Edited by Jim Chandler & Haze McElhenny
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