A break in the kink

  The armor is gone

Tanks and jeeps like pine knots 

  Stewed tomatoes and wieners

    A raccoon hat and a sargeants stripes 

   A broken chipped arrowhead

   In the birches 

Near Big Sandy Opening

 You said let's watch TV

  So we woke the bear from his hibernation 

 You shot him from your hiding spot in the tree

"I ain't going back!"

No one asked.

 There's no mouse

Creeping around

While you try to sleep

You've warned him

But your threats can't compete 

With a warm house and piles of soft clothes 

"GET OUT!"

But nope

 

 ruthless caribou fortress

Embrace

A treetop sap hands

Old dryers in a forest 

Resting and rusting 

Miles from home 

A shoe in melted snow mud

Your sister's

 

 

 Sunday morning

W a headache 

Hi Dee Ho 

Eating eggs and leftover potatoes 

W salt and pepper and Mexican cheese

And a giant glass of ice cold milk

 I gambled all my money

On the Pistons

And I don't live anywhere near Detroit

I was born in Michigan but we all left soon after. 

We have a newspaper from the day I was born.

A three time loser was killed in an escape attempt at local hospital 

The same one I was born in 

I wonder if I'm the reincarnated three time loser?

Seems doubtful but who knows?

 I thought if could write lunch poems

I'd be a poet

A NYC poet on west 53rd st

Sitting in the back of a DeSoto

Hammering away at a typewriter

Clack clack clack

 I can't do it 

Write she said

About your feelings

About your life

About the sunshine when you wake up all groggy

She sounded like Bob Ross

But there's no happy trees by a happy lake

 The creature came from the dark

Purple eyes and nails like nails 

 "Sssssshhhhhhhhiiiusssssssss!"

It shiused!

"Say what?"

It ran back to dark and I went back to the tv.

 I'm

A mess mimmmmm

I ripped the cannonball mmmm

I tripped clementina 

On the banjos civil war blood

Stalemated and excised 

Like a Mike mmm

Mule named Mike 

Cornpone and greens

Yer mama said

Would do you okay

But gunshot blues

Blasted you from Pennsylvania 

And ummmmm you died

An honorable death

 

 Then the Covid hit

 She said

Then I'd decorate a cake!

FIFTY DOLLARS! 

Cake costs fifty dollars! Crazy!

She looks through the magazines while standing next to the table with neatly stacked orange peels.

Her companion still hasn't said a word

He sits quietly with his old baseball hat on.

 I should read more Dostoyevsky 

Alcoholic and gambling (addict)

 Sounds like a good time!

 Better than that snoozer Tolstoy

Gahd War and Peace was like 500 pages 

Why did I read that?

 Childhood is a magical land

One we can never return to.

A land of mystery and suspense.

A land of sadness, tears and laughter 

The powers that be are hidden in forests and words 

We climb pine trees unthinking of danger

And hate the pine sap stuck to hands

Adults are strange creatures

With strange ideas and issues

They are the Sausalito of cities

With a strange hat shop

That we love.

 I'm a mythical creature!

I'm Uncle Doug!

The cuties love me!

They're dressed in Halloween costumes!

Dear God 

Thank you for letting me 

Play this part.

 I feel so bored

But of course no one wants to hear it

The spiders are tiny and crawl outside the window of my car

They make webs from the side mirrors to the the doors

Why? What are spiders doing on my car? And why are they so tiny?

I voted yesterday and put my ballot in the box at my local library. Then I went inside and pissed. 

 I'm kind of a blind hermit

Wanting to make espresso

For Frankenstein's monster

 The more I eat the more I get hungry

I have no tacos

The TV talks to me

How come you're such a fucking loser?

I change the channel

Oh Lucy's on!

 The Red Sox were a beautiful dream

Rico Petrocelli Yaz Mike somebody

Is that all I can remember?

It was a baseball bat - vanilla with fudge

Like ice cream - vanilla fudge

So smooth and cool to the touch

I tried out for the team in third grade

Every day I asked

Did I get the call?!

Bouncing a ball off a brick building tore the web out of my JANA baseball glove 

So what did I do?

I fucking cried!

I loved baseball

 I tried to make it all good 

But it seemed hopeless

So now what to do?

Fuck it 

Let's get drunk!

 The managed crisis

Like an institution of wtf

We're here to help

But lo and behold behold

Betwixt gif and the deal

Slay the bunnies!

The coyotes are kings

ACME has no say in the matter

Change the channel to UHF they said

But we lived way out in the country

Georges barn was covered in antlers

That's a lot of venison burgers

And keep

An eye  

On that dog 

He is not friendly

 Of course some would say

I need a drink.

That bottle of whiskey. 

 The fragrant velocity of that guy

What the?

Oh hello maybe no?

But fuck it

Let's have a white wine!

Pinot Grigio with ice cubes.

 It is what it is

We all have crosses to bear.

God has forsaken most of us.

Some, who don't let anything bother them, are blessed.

The rest of us walk the roads of perdition in our neighborhood streets because Les Mouches.

 Earnest the Mouse continued his story.

"So there I was in the lap of luxury enjoying each day when I heard a dreaded word!"

The group was on tinderhooks.

"What?" Said Janet Giraffe.

"What word?!" Gasped Pablo Pig. 

Earnest looked each of them in the eye before he said anything. 

"CAT!"

The others looked at the others slightly confused. 

"And I knew that my presence had not gone undetected! Although I don't speak human a few words are quite well known amongst the Mouse kingdom."

"Like what?" Said Theo Salamander.

"Oh, words like Cat, Cheese, Slim Jims, Peanut butter, mouse trap, sticky pads." Said Earnest the Mouse.

"Ohh" said the group. 

"Cats are killers of mice! They do it to please the humans, they won't even eat us. Just kill us and then drag our dead bodies to show their human masters the work they've done!

"That hardly seems very nice" Said Theo Salamander.

"Not very nice at all!" Said Earnest the Mouse.  

 Earnest the Mouse was having a beautiful day.

All his friends were there. Rikki Raccoon, Pablo Pig, Stuart Owl, Janet Giraffe, and Theo Salamander. 

The sun was shining and it was a nice warm day. They had all met by the creek side and were having a picnic. 

There were baguettes and cheese, cucumbers w yogurt, bits of pumpkin covered with arugula, popcorn w sweet sauce, and vanilla ice cream. 

Earnest was telling the tale of when he lived in the city.

"Oh it was a very big city. With scary coyotes!"

"Ooh" the bunch shuddered. 

"Coyotes in a city?" Asked Janet Giraffe.

"YES! Can you believe it? What are coyotes doing in a city?! But there they were just as happy as they could be. Frolicking at the beach at sunset with a giant orange bridge off in the distance."

"Ohhhh" said everyone. 

"I had been living near a building but I was hungry and it's so much nicer inside"

"Hmm" said the collective group.

"So I found a way up and in and the people who lived there were so very slow and dull and messy."

"Sounds like humans" said Pablo Pig.

"Yes they're quite messy" said Stuart Owl.

"Yes, they are." Agreed Theo Salamander. 

"So I took up residence. Weeks went by that I went from room to room snatching up crumbs of potato chips, peanut butter cookies and sometimes, Salami!"

"It was warm and cozy. One room had an older man who had heaps of clothes on the floor and I made the that my home base. The old fellows hearing wasn't so good so I could chomp away with impunity!"

"Is Impunity your girlfriend?" Asked Janet Giraffe.

"Kinda!" Said Earnest Mouse.

The others laughed heartily.

 After his brother came home with two pizzas he asked us if we wanted pizza?

We tried to act like we weren't high as fuck and said sure but the pizza was scalding hot and was dripping all over. We were like what the fuck! We were watching Gumball Rally and that shit was fucking wacko. The colors were bouncing around like the tv need some serious technician to work on it. Also peoples faces were all fucked up and weird.

After the pizza his brother said you guys gotta go my girlfriend's coming over. Again we were like WTF?

It was starting to rain outside as the three of us headed to my old battleship grey Ford Fairlane. 

The sidewalk was covered with rain drops in the shape of rose bushes spelling out words we couldn't read.

I started it up and we head out through the California tract house development. Immediately Evan yelled out "Dude Slow down!"

I was all dude I'm going fifteen miles an hour. Lol

 Endowed by a night in 63 Ford Fairlane

Your eyes were 7-11's on acid

Everyone was a caricature or a cartoon.

After we got kicked out of Evan's place cuz his little brothers girlfriend was coming over we hit the edge of the suburbs. Empty fields on one side giant stucco wall across the road parked behind an empty big rig. We were high as fuck after eating all the purple blotter paper pieces. After eating one and waiting a half hour and not feeling it we decided to eat all the rest. Questionable decision. Twenty minutes later we couldn't feel our legs and the colors on the color tv had all become ridiculously intense and hyper real. Every emotion on the actors faces was revealed in stop motion hyper speed slowed down to antiquated time reveals. Boom bang bing boff!

The talk went on endlessly leaving a trail of echoes behind us. The talk was cyclical. We'd eventually come back to "What if the cops show up?" Then we realized it was just part of the cycle and forgot about it.

Derk and I spent the night on Evans parents water bed. It was like trying to sleep on a giant woman's breast.

 Hah I can bore your fucking tits off

John had a buddy who had a buddy that had a blue 240z.

He lived way out on Morgan Territory Road in a fairly new house but there wasn't a tree for miles. Just hot dry California hills. His parents bought him the car because the bus didn't go anywhere near them.

This guy, Nick, invited them to a party his brother threw because the parents were out of town. It was all guys. They had a glass bowl filled with joints. The brother would light one pass it on and then another and another. Pretty soon everyone had one and was totally stoned. Everyone tried to pass their joint but everyone was no I'm good.

They listened to ELP's album Tarkus. Prog rock with hella keyboards about an Armadillo tank doing battle with Pterodactyl birds in a rainbow landscape.

There wasn't any food except chips and salsa.

At one point John and Derk were like let's get the fuck out of here. They got in John's 63 Ford Fairlane and split.

 Dumby saw Salty at Denny's

"Yo what up?"

"How's the hand?"

"Aww it's okay. I can still point. Hah but flipping people off is now relegated to the left"

"What are you doing here so early?"

"My old man got drunk and we got in a fight"

"I hope you kicked his ass. He deserves it"

"Yeah I beat him pretty good. He told me to get the fuck out." 

"You can stay with us. My mom would be cool with it and my brothers room is empty since he joined the Air Force"

"Really?! Hey that would be cool."

"I'll get some clothes."

"Okay come over in about an hour"

"Okay. Hey thanks"

"No worries"

The green overfeldt portrayed as a 87 Chevy Conquistador.

Dumby got in and went for a drive. 

It was early Saturday morning and it was a little chilly.

He never should have shot that old gun. Why did they even have that old gun he wondered about his grandparents.

Well what's done is done, it's not like I could ever play the violin. 

He turned on the radio and Merle Haggard's Big City was on. Dumby sang along.

 He'd reached his peak

But it was nowheresville.

He bought a 30.06 at Sears.

"I'm gonna do some shootin' "

He went out to the grassy knoll near the highway.

"Gonna kill some motherfuckers"

But he had the wrong bullets.

The clerk gave him .44's

"These don't fucking fit!"

He put it all in the trunk and drove to Wendy's

"Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce

special orders don't upset us!"

 Bumpers aren't your only friend

But it was a sad day. 

So sad. 

 Salty's dad drank too much

He got canned for the umpteenth time and Salty's mom supported them working for the school district. 

Salty had an after school and weekend job helping out at the Wal-Mart. Salty had a Mercury Montego that was on its last legs. 

Dad was usually passed out when Salty got home. He tried to stay away from home as much as possible. He felt bad for his little sister and tried to help her where he could.

"Here's some money. Do not fucking tell dad."

"Ya think I'm stupid?!"

"Umm yeah!"

"Fuck you! Thanks for the money"

Jeannie was fourteen. But she weren't exactly a glamour gal. Kinda skinny and red haired and not all that popular.

"I'm going shopping on Saturday with Lynette!"

"Sears?"

"NO! Dumbass. We're going to Southland mall!"

"Hmm. Shopping for some dick?"

"EWW YOU CREEP!"

"Hahaha"

 Attila was stoned 

He had on one of his dads lp's. 

"Attila!"

His mom was yelling.

"Come set the table"

"Aww fuck"

They lived on Arbor Court. 

His mom was born in England and still had her British accent. 

His dad's name was Boris but everyone called him Corky. He worked for Valley Heating & AC. 

Attila's oldest sister had run off and was living in Hawaii. They visited her and she was speaking like a Hawaiian with pidgin English. His parents weren't happy about it.

"Why does she have to talk like that?"

"Let's get some steaks tonight!"

You couldn't really talk to Corky so Attila didn't bother.

Corky loved his Raiders and his beer.

 "Who was that kid that OD'd?"

"Well they brought him back"

"I think he goes to Granada"

"Dunno"

 Dumby's fingers were sewn back on

But the little one didn't take. 

"Sorry but it's got to come off"

The other two made it but they weren't good for much. He could move them a little but they weren't really all that functional. 

"Fuck it. It is what it is."

"I guess if we'd'a had better beer...fucking Modelo! Hah!"

"Dont ever trust Mexicans to save your fingers!"

"Shoulda had Heinekens!"

"Ve vill save your fingers for the third reich! Heil Finger"

"Let's go to John's Char-broil! I'm hungry!"

"Fuck and A!"

 Dumby was laying in bed 

He'd just come out of the operating room but there wasn't a room for him.

He was kind of a mess. His hand was all bandaged up.

There was a bunch of commotion and they wheeled a kid past him who was out cold and was sheet white.

There was more commotion and he heard the kid come to.

"You're lucky your friends brought you in. Sometimes they just leave them on the doorstep and we don't know they're out there."

"Please don't tell the cops. This happened before. Im gonna get really in trouble if you tell them."

"Sorry kid we have to."

 Salty's dad was drunk

"Hey what are you doing?"

"I'm going to bed, I gotta work tomorrow"

"Fuck work come and have a drink with your old man"

"I can't dad I gotta hit the hay"

"Fuck the hay!"

 At John's Char-Broil we ran into Salty

He had his usual yellow hoodie on

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Dumby's at the hospital. He blew off three of his fingers."

"WHAT?! The FUCK. How'd he do that?!"

"He found a gun in his grandparents attic and decided to shoot it. It blew up and blew three of his fingers off!"

"FUCK! Jeez"

"Lucky no one else got hurt"

"The doctors gonna try to re-attach his fingers"

"Can they do that?"

"I guess they can try"

"Have you seen Attila?"

"Yeah he was here. Said they're going up to the dam"

"I gotta work in the morning"

"See ya later Salty"

"Okay yeah fuck n A"

 Dumby went to the operating room

So we split. 

"That nurse was hot!"

"No shit Sherlock"

"Where did he get that gun?"

"He said he found it in his grandparents attic"

"Jeez"

"Let's go to John's Char-Broil"

"Fuck yeah"

 The nurse gave him a shot 

To kill the pain

He was crying and cursing

  "I blew off my own FUCKING fingers!"

We'd put the fingers on ice with the Modelos

"The doctor will try to reattach them"

She had nice long brown hair

And was good looking

Dumby was moaning and weeping

We kept looking at the pretty nurse

She was hot

 The green mountain dumby

Pulled out an old gun

It looked like a .32 police revolver

 He said watch this 

 And aimed at a rusty can

The gun went off and blew up in his hand

Three fingers were splattered on the ground

He howled like an October moon

 A creature of green

said something derogatory 

 But it meant nothing

He was stupid

I kinda felt bad that

  He was dumb

He'd shown it before

   But it is what it is

I closed my book

   And fell asleep

 Attila the crumb bum

    Was a notch below

But the stars were twinkling

   Our blood was stirred

   We were high as kites on a moonlit night

       Porcupines were sauntering by

  Yo Attila

   But he'd left for a char-broiled burger

We calmly opened another ice cold beer 

"Dang, this beer's cold"

 I dreamt

of the igneous (rock)

   casualties of

my childhood -

   sweaters with sheep?

and boxes containing 

plastic boats

I was "least enthusiastic student we have"

   said

my 

  mom

in a letter to her mother

    She'd grown up with two younger sisters

and I had two older sisters. Women girls and more girls.

Fuck that shit. 

   The same year my teacher said I was one of the most enthusiastic students she had and I was a joy to have in her class. 

  And I was what six?

Earlier I think they thought I was gay because I had a lisp.

So I did speech classes with hot UNH collegiates. 

Problem? Solved.

 I had the rotund

Erudition 

Plied like a cubicle life

I was the forgotten 

Field of dreams

In Antietam 

The Lucky store

Of Civil War

The Ohio

Of dead 

I was the pavement licking

Your asshole

Of the please please please me

And all the Phillip Roth

East coast counterparts

Moving to the storm

Sturmindrang 

Casualties like a movement destroyed

We just want to raise the 

The little babies

Won't you STFU

 Turmeric crimes

Continue

  Fucking endlessly

   seasoned by 

Christopher Columbus 

Pissaro

    And the ...

Well you know

 Bumpers aren't 

Your face

               Smooth 

   Out 

     The blue Jeaned 

   Hijinks 

      Bikinis

   Micky Big Mouths

   In the back of a long bed

65 Chevy 

   Pale blue 

On Hwy 17

    Oh the days

   Are gone

Of dreams

   And girls

 Crater or Caldera?

What happened to Icees

By Robert Frost

 The bereft

I like that word

Seasonal nothingness 

Old broken washing machines

The last place you'd find snow

In the forest

 I don't know what to do

Who am I?

I'm a toaster in True West.

I'm not John Malkovich

Somewhere there's a story

About meteor showers 

And sleeping outside 

 Echofisk

or VYL

Listening to a cassette tape 

made by my sister Jane

Jane covered the ceiling with a batik

I painted a white racing stripe 

On the hood 

The paint is a faded unidentifiable color

Dad bought it for twenty five dollars

in Livermore CA in 1973

I painted a (stencil-like) high contrast image

of John Lennon screaming 

on the drivers side door

"Early one morning when we first met

soon to be divorced"

blasts out of the hidden speakers above the back seat

also covered with batik

Hot days and cold nights 

Smoking marijuana and getting drunk

High school

 The Calamity Rain

Is no laughing matter

But let's not forget 

 Wait what am I talking about

It's Wednesday I have no job

I order books online

And they pile up

Sometimes they're good

Other times not so good

I went to the library and saw a book on the librarians desk

I asked can I check that out?

Dude librarian: NO

Woman librarian seated next to him: We can put one on reserve and have it delivered here.

Me: Okay!

We haven't had rain in months

 Antediluvian characters 

In a 

    Respected

death visage

       You

Time 

      Was

Not on your side

     You

   

    Had Ginsbergian 

   Titles

  Finger knockers

 A La Espana 

     And signed books with drawings

 

and drawings

    with pencils 

H or B

   Figures encased in plastic 

   You settled for Tamales 

or plantains

   or Quesadilla Suiza

 with steak

Cuz 

   

   the Swiss

Eat steak  

Like Bank Accounts

And yer ma

  Hated Indian food restaurants 

Saag Paneer

   But what are these cubes?

Fucking cheese

Eat!

 Movement mediatory

The dream of side streets

A pizza place with a standard name

You drank a Sprite 

And thought that's pretty good 

You're exactly what's wrong in this world

 Depunkt 

Or Depunked?

Deslumt?

Graves aren't like CBGB's

Torn jeans

Leather jacket 

Dirty white canvas sneakers 

Tom Jeans 

It is fucking unusual 

To be loved by anyone!

 The stop bath integers

Damn enlarger is out of whack

Do not test the fixer by tasting it

Print 17 5x7's of a cat with a toy

Go out and smoke a cig 

And then get back at it

 Sometimes you play it by ear

Don't paraphrase Moon quotations

   Sad and drunk

  What are you going to do?

    A. Pick up the books on the floor

 B. Take a nap

     C. Go for a walk and get an espresso (double)

  D. Drink whiskey and play weird electric bass noises through a weird reverb pedal and amp.

  E. Worry about everything

 

 A searing Bro-cade of another day

Time is a crazy time

Of dealing with bullshit

Donkey movies

And stories about your great uncle 

Losing an arm 

But the kids are hungry

So fuck it

It's off to the drive in burger place

Let's go!

 

 The Encyclopedia Stowaway 

 A long walk on a short plank

Barefoot and thinking about a cheeseburger

With fries and a Dr. Pepper

He ended up on a bus to Hohokus

Reading the want ads for jobs

Wanted: Self starter for long term employment. Health benefits in six months. Hourly $7.25/hr.

 

 Bored by the breath

   Stowed like a bunny rabbit

Like sounds bumping

   In the dark 

The clatter and crash!

  What was that?!

We'll never make it out alive!

There was no rope to hold on to

  No iron trail

In our own personal

Pyrenees

   Got the car keys 

     

 The pork rind kid

Lean and quick

   A bit sassy

   Carrying that mitt

 A little leather 

  With a hardball

 On my walk today

I got Chinese food

And then a coffee 

Then I walked back and went

To the supermarket 

Got Popsicles - Cherry, Grape and Lime

And some Hash Browns

 I rambled

In brambles

Torn and bloody

Shook my head

I won't be afraid

Nah I never said that

But I thought it was poetic

  The car started up 

And the tunes blasted from 

   On high

   We'd left the shovel behind

      And the road was ahead 

  But we forgot our names

 Who are you?

   I'm Captain Botswana

Where'd you get those overalls?

 I had a bad dream

It was about scheduling

I had conflicts

Thursday after work 

Was triple booked

Fuck!

 Some kind of Stars broke overhead 

I was drunk on whiskey 

Reading Let It Come Down

My new band will be called Uncle Doug

Our new album Save the Endolphins

Is due for release December

 The Tao of Mass

     What does that mean?

Tao is "the way"

And mass weighs! Oh wait

Way way way too much

  Why does mass cause gravity? 

Ah jeez

  Hey let's have spaghetti and red wine 

And look at the blue sky

 The river

Flows of its own accord

 It's just water

   You need water!

Not that much! Too much!

And there's weird fish in there 

  And crawdads and alligators

Bugs and minnows 

   Bacteria! 

Flesh eating disease! Yuck!

  Buddha said let it all flow on by

Try detachment 

Be the river 

 The raised drivel

    Was abstainable 

Time had its advantage

     Over and over and over

   Read a book

About a man seeing a French doctor

   You'll be bored trust me

Sit at a cafe and watch the day go by

   A friend said when in Paris

Just sit at a cafe and people watch

 I did see some strange outfits

Look at what he's wearing !

 What decade is it?

 I took a 3 hour bus ride

Up the Pacific coast

Of Baja Sur 

Shades drawn

Watching a seventies movie 

Of a gal with a pickup truck

Outside 

the ocean

And Saguaro cacti

And desert - dry dusty hot desert.

 The opposite of dreams

A manta ray breaching

12 foot across

Two bulbous eyes

Beneath the wings

An alien space ship

Taking off 

Outside the Mexican coast 

Near Yelapa

 Fallopian brajura 

  On a sad sidewalk 

with little hope of redemption 

  No left turn on red

We all have lives to lead

In old worn out sneakers 

 By a chopper

In the seventies 

At Angels Camp

California 

 

 The wage theft of life

What no pay?

Who owns my star dust tears?

My cosmic sap covered hands

Climbing pine trees in New Hampshire 

Is hard work

Riding a homemade line 

Or riding on the outside running boards

Of a 1964 VW Bug

There was no money playing

In a refrigerator's delivery cardboard box

We walked the "Ho Chi Minh" trail

Through the back forest

To the railroad tracks

And followed them to the ice cream dairy shop

Once I found an empty circle in the middle of the forest

With no trees

Called an Elf's Circle

Found an old felt hat nearby

Took it home and put it in my closet 

But it disappeared!

Oh no you don't that's not yours!

The payment in the stars

With sap and dirt and old washing machines.

 Old Man

In the middle of the night

Eating Poke

And drinking ice cold milk

 The Miracles

wore me down

Counting too high

   walking three miles

  Sunday lunch with 95 year old Ma 

driving the Hyundai cross country

Because I didn't want to get in a plane

  Everywhere was different

But I was always glad to go

see ya!

Brick houses with giant thick brick columns

    Rodeos in Kansas

Streets going every which way in Ithaca

Home of Nabokov

and Vonnegut

Highest suicide rate amongst college students

  The layout of the city was off putting

I pulled into NJ

Near the George Washington Bridge

  Close to Fort Lee

Glad to be back

 To avoid anxiety

Avoid all the things 

That I do regularly

 I don't know what I'm doing

by I'm doing a lot of it.

 

 The Aventurra Rip Cord was torn

You had no regrets

But the cold streets offered next to nothing 

Your breath was visible

I smoked cheap Italian cigarettes 

Like a wolf in the wild

Your eyes were beautiful in black and white 

You left me standing confused

I walked to a bar and ordered a whiskey 

Rye make it a double

The bartender dried his hands on a towel

And said nothing

 I have no heartaches

But my head is ripe with figs 

Trees spring from my sides

Buttered scones are my enemy

A fat pig follows me everywhere 

He recites or just makes shit up

I'm not sure

"The troll of the forest knows

Your name but will not tell until

you find the Kasper Hauser Glen 

surrounded in pine."

 The Clambake Wars

Ferget about the ruddy bastids!

Here's mud in your eye!

 A veteran of the Chesapeake Oyster Wars.

The Governor of Virginia rose in public estimation

after seizing seven oyster dredgers boats and arresting 

41 oyster pirates.

  Later he tried it again and brought newspapermen to witness and report. But the Governor got outraced by a sailboat worked by three plucky lasses- the wife and daughters of the boats captain. They escaped the Governors attempt and the reporters ate it up, much to the Governor's dismay and chagrin.

He'd become a laughing stock.

 You played the misery game

I'm sorry

But I didn't sign up 

For that-

A thousand games

Of Pai Gow-

You had stacks 

Of parting gifts

In the living room

Twelve sets of steak knives

Fifteen sets of something else

Rows and rows of these things

And more in the garage

I said why am I paying your mortgage

When you're squandering away all your money

On these stupid tournaments

She said

Because you love me.

 I never said I was a writer

Giono

Calvino

Dostoyevsky 

Hem

Fitzgerald 

 Guys like that

  How'd they do it?

 Wrapped in a dream

         But the weather

Jeez

             Some people stink

        Not everybody

        But some do

   Maybe I do

   Who knows 

I'll ask around

    But not a census

   Just ya know 

  Random sample

To be interpolated

 I liked that book

But that's neither here 

Nor there

Pip would understand

But that gal at Miss Haveshams?

Too snooty!

Sometimes ya gotta go

With what ya got

or you're off to NZ

From the prison hulk

 

 I moved the spider

Caught in its web

Drinking water 

 I rode the storm to bed

   I had no idea

  But things work out

  When you're alone

  Sometimes you just gotta give up

 And watch the sidewalks 

crack

 Or not 

See if I care!

 I had no current

     I was in irons 

The wind was gone

  I ransacked the galley

Biscuits and a bottle of rum

Har dee har 

  I fell asleep to the 

Sound of water slapping

I hadn't touched the biscuits

 Checked online book buyers

I have a ton of books! 

You can scan the bar code on the book and you'll get offers from different book buyers.

Scanned a hardcover Bukowski. Originally $25.99.

Book buyers offer .30. Thirty cents. I'd rather leave it in a laundromat or Goodwill. I'd rather leave it at a sidewalk library. But I'll keep it.

The cover is cool. 

 Tired!

Walked to the BOBA place

For my daily double espresso 

Boom

Sun is shining

 It was so quiet

Last night at 4 am

I was drinking milk

Trying not to have bad dreams

Then I shopped online 

Exciting huh?

 Cerebral stupidity

That's all it is

No soul

But I thought it would just happen

On its own

I thought the message was the medium

Nah sorry!

 Shit!

The Broken Decay!

On a street in Tampa FL

E. Wilder Ave

Not much down there

Curley Gray lived there 

He etched his name and address

On a 1952 Fender lap steel

Later Butch Green

Put his name on 

 I'm drinking Nescafé Gold

Very hot

With a tiny bit of remaining milk

and some (a little) brown sugar

Outside is GRAY

gray

gray

 gray

the COASTAL LIFE

   Go up to GHIRARDELLI SQUARE

For an IRISH COFFEE

if it's Irish must have whiskey in it

  I think Fisherman's wharf

Was run by Italian and their fisherman 

Crabs

  Clam chowder

Flounder

West Coast fishies

  Jack London

Was an Oyster Pirate

In Oakland

Robbing Oyster beds at night

   And then drinking 

He was poor

 But his aunt gave him money

For a sailboat

  To be an oyster PIRATE!

 Like being at Sea

Cold foggy

Windy

I expect to hear 

Fog horns

Maybe my hearings going

It's been so quiet

The last few days

I trudge the pelican streets

I talk to salt water

I'm wearing arctic sea gear

As we pass the cape of good horn

A street cleaner drives by

Somewhere nearby

The USS Street Cleaner

Still nothing

Everything is still

And quiet

 I had fucked up dreams 

Last night

About people cuttting

Small children into pieces

I mean wt actual F?

I had to stay awake for a while 

So they wouldn't start again

Jeez 

I'm not sure what's going on

 I strangled

The scramble

On a Monday afternoon

Vodka martini

The loudmouth PBR drinkers

Pissed the bartender off 

Putting their empty's 

In the wrong bucket

Behind the bar

And Frank

Sings

Strangers in the night

 

 It's so easy

To get drunk

When you're depressed

And your body 

Feels like shit

Everything sucks

Because you're old 

And don't have a whole lot of hope/options

But on a bright note

Chickens in the oven

And you're starting 

To get hungry 

Eat em

Up!

 The streets of Napoli

were alive

With Cendrars 

And laundry 

and women

Thieves wore cheap suits

and were fat and stupid 

But the pizza ovens

Burned brightly

And the pizza

Was piping hot

Crispy

And delicious 

 There was a moment

But that's all gone

But really 

Don't worry

Friends are friends

Next stop 

Uranus 13

Please have boarding pass

In hand

 The meandering grubsteak 

A thousand nights

In tender times

Breakfast at 4 am

You scratch an itch

A human raccoon

Throws a ladies clothes in a bag

Over a building sign

You gave her a twenty 

But she never came back

Cest la vie!

You got in a cab 

And the driver  

Looked at you strangely

 I'm not looking for tomorrow 

I think it's around here somewhere. It'll show up or if not

I guess it's not that important.

Hah!

 Or was this said yesterday?, wait uh oh?

Emoji emoji emoji-san

 I rode a birchwood canoe

Past the Shoshone. It was cold and I smoked a cigar. I could hear their voices through the trees. 

"Let's get an apartment in Toronto and open a pharmacy."

"Yeah."

"Shut up you idiots!"

"Haha!"

 The Moon had nothing

On me. I walked for days in the shadow of a giant bird. Somewhere I would find the car keys. Charles Addams spoke to me as a child. When all are horrified be the one laughing. Pour hot water on Xmas carolers. The sand of the desert knows your name and will repeat it a thousand times as you pass. Clouds aren't friendly and they could care less. There once was a past that never existed. It lives in peoples memories. Forget illusions the most bizarre is what surrounds us it said on a fortune cookie fortune. I had beef with broccoli.

 Count Crackula

What's wrong wit yo Natchel?

Hah hah 

Another sunny day here

But there's a cool ocean breeze

The fog comes in

And then it goes out

Later I'll wander on my hamster trail

I'm on a hamster wheel

Im a fat hamster

With old man problems

I drive a Hyundai occasionally 

I buy cheap CD's to play in it. 

Some of them I listen to once

And never again

Others have better luck

Better luck than I've been having recently

But that's the way it goes

They can't all be winners

Woot

I dreamt of nothing

No scary booze filled anxiety

Just slept

I'm sure something happened in my dreams

But it's all gone

I sleep with a fan on

I like the sound

White noise? Grey noise? Whatever.

 

 Some people

ride like the wind

   Others

Are Earth bound

    Some most have moments

What am I talking about?

  Send answers in by Friday

 Winners gets a week in bed

 2nd place gets two weeks

 Sold like a rhinestone 

What is a rhinestone? Cheap gem? I'll have to look that up. Someday. And offers coming over the summer phone!

I guess I'm bored.

Ho-hum.

 The fibs

He told as truth

Published as a tale of Paradise found

Climbing over ridges to escape 

The penalty of jumping ship

Was there a penalty for leaving?

He was warned 

Don't go there 

They're cannibals

They'll eat you

But he headed directly there

I guess thinking none would follow

He found them 

Or they him

And treated him as royalty

Young women bathed him

And fed him 

Fruit and fowl

Fish and taro

He lied and said he spent months 

Amongst them

Maybe it was a week and a half

Thirty years later Stevenson went

To see these people

But they were gone 

Empty

Just the large flat stones 

Their homes had been perched on

 A Dream

of the racetrack 

Shoemaker was a rich jockey

But the bums cursed him from the stands

He dropped his racing form

It was time for a drink

But the bartender had no eyes

And bats flew from the Men's room

Everyone in the lounge looked like Chinaski

And he wouldn't talk to anyone

He woke in a cold sweat

The sun was blasting thru the blinds

Bob's dog was barking at the mailman

Woof! Woof!

 A Monster

Strove to reach new heights

Above and beyond

Beyond and above

The street laden snowy days

The raspicacious redundancies of eyes

Grey and dark were his motifs

The individual seeks comfort

The lifelong growth of comfort

Thru lines and stories

And seeking out the most obscure of personage

Once published now faded to obscurity

 It tried the Mojo Hand

The River rammeled and Tramelled via a nuclei

trajectory. It stopped for a dog with mustard and sauerkraut. It sensed the Great Poet. But Central Park

was beautiful. It held the greatest hits vol 2 album. It checked its balance via celly. It thought the East Village or the West Village but ended up in SoHo. It wondered about the different pronunciations of the name Houston. 

...we have a problem. It took the Path train to Jersey City. Its friend had the top floor of an old building about a half block from the station. You could be at Penn Station in like 11 minutes. 

 The River tried 

Sleight of hand

It would make things disappear 

Then pull them out of it's pocket

or from behind your ear

Poof! 

like a fish

Or a piece of wood floating along

or a map of Yosemite

It thought I would be big

In Paris or some other famous city

Maybe Seville

 Bereft

Bereft

Bereft

Bereft

Bereft of hope

     and wisdom

Like a toaster in a National Forest 

   The sky opened up

     And the rain hammered down

Bereft of feelings

  While shopping at Lucky Supermarket

  Peaches $4.99 per lb.

   Instant coffee $10.99

Who buys that?!

I feel good driving on the highway -

Driving away from wherever I was-

I'm outta here!

With a CD in-

  70's Gold!

Bereft of something

I'm not saying

Cuz you'll judge me

Lol