one-half of 2 dreams

     there                                                                   there was something

 some thing                                                                                      

                    that piqued his attention  a play on words  a word  what was it

what was it?     

                                                                                          this was going to drive him nuts

happened during their walk into town to pay a bill

then over to the grocery store for vegetables for dinner
  

a stretch of the legs  a cool-down she accurately called it  after an hours exercise at the gym

sounds entitled  which he would assure was not but rather  explicitly  for her Health

it had her on the ropes for a few years  

                                                               but she covered up kept her head between her gloves elbows in tight protecting her belly  absorbing its significant blows

                                                                                                                       the Bell rang

and with the Round over she retreated to recover in her corner

 

it hadnt the stuff to put her away

when you try to convince people youre trying to keep your health in this very unhealthy world

in this world where you might hope to think you have our neighbors back and they yours

but all anyone shares  --  stoked by Fear  --  is in a mutually assured destruction

a brazenly polarized Cuntry 

                                                 where an ex-mayor who has thoroughly discredited himself
can address a filled room and dare challenge the Presidents love-of-country  and no one
in that room dares challenge him  no one wants to risk being ostracized

but rather stands up  quite readily  and applauds his mealy mouth 

he understood red meat  as political pundits called it

                                                                                       but since when has asshole become

red meat?

maybe theres nothing worth trying to convince anyone of

 

hed ask her if she remembered 

                                                   though he couldnt remember if he said anything to her out loud
when it flashed across the Jumbotron he toted about inside his skull  flashing and screaming
and pushing everything else in his consciousness out in front of traffic  and not feeling bad 
feeling the slightest twinge of regret or guilt or what other words people might use

to describe his apparent callousness

evidently he lacked compunction 

                                                     or at least when he was informed or compelled by his Jumbotron

what the hell was it he was thinking of     the Word   

                                                                                   its Mutation

he mentioned it to her   thinking the word bore a vowel set of ae or ea   or at least he believed they were part of the word and mutation   hoping to jog her memory

not that shed have a memory of it if he didnt tell her

--   You know how I like to play

like past pieces

                          you recall  disease   dissease

like that

As we walked up on the demolition of the old Junior High Administration building

along the road  West Mall  past the stumps of the felled trees  

                                                                                                   the one hundred year old trees

I think during our conversation of Harry Crews  the time between me telling you of his polio and him falling into the boiling cauldron prepared for a slaughtered hog

Any bells  Whistles

Anything

she usually knew what he was thinking

I knew youd know  hed told her more often than not

she was uncanny

witches usually are

she threw a mean tarot 

he was sure if they gutted something she could divine from its entrails

(but that he kept to himself)

he was pretty sure the word and its mutant wouldnt be found in his guts

  

it wasnt THAT important

it wasnt worth chomping a cyanide pill between his teeth so it couldnt be tortured out of him

but then 

               he supposed a lot of torture happened for no answers at all

tortured  to satisfy the torturer

he knew kids like that  they loved to torment

he steered clear of their kind

they grew up

he remembered seeing them at a distance  their frosty visages in junior high and high school

loners

 

loners recognized other loners

they took comfort in being by themselves

sought out their own company

it was very likely that that drew him and her together  they were so surprised they could tolerate each other  and didnt seek to excuse themselves from their company

Still  with everything they had going for them    

                                                                          no word  no mutant

Better sleep on it

                                                                                                             Really  Better sleep on it

the last time he went to sleep on anything lead him into a dream of a cheap arcade  boardwalk

off a yellow beach on a brilliant blue sea

he could taste the salt in the air 

 

he was with his kid brother  not a year between them

 

they sought . . . rather his brother sought  he was along for the ride  typically he was along for the ride when it came to his wanderlust brother . . . the entrance to a huge garish auditorium

his brother was excited  he said it contained an unbelievable stage and the stage was above an orchestra pit  footlights separating the two                                                                                                                         

Entering it 

                  it was as his brother said

though pitifully worn  tawdry

had the spiderwebs been cleared away  and they like tendons  the place would have fallen down around their heads

the people inside were dressed in costumes  or seemed to be

their hair faces and hands were made up

a sickly sweet smell emanated off them 

                                                                 as if to disguise something rotting beneath
 

enormous women sat in seats too small for them  their large legs filled the aisles between the rows of fixed seats

you probably couldnt clear them with a running start

and turned away  you hoped to find another row   hopefully uninhabited 

                                                                                                          they werent

they had to take a seat beside a huge man and woman who were clutching each other

try as he may he couldnt fit his hand between her thighs

and it wasnt for lack of trying

in frustration he had yanked her blouse open exposing an enormous tit and suckled it

suckled an aureole that peeked above his greasy moustache and under his slobbered chin

his other hand  small in comparison  kneaded and pinched her other tit

--   Something huh  his brother said in a hoarse exhale

I cant wait

he thought  He cant wait for what  and wondered if he wanted in on the fat moaning woman beside him 

                  because with a glare he made his brother understand goddamn well he wasnt going to be sitting beside the amorous pigs
 

music started  rose from the empty orchestra pit

the heavy dusty curtain on stage split and labored open

                                                                                           and at stage left center stage stage right  under overhead spots  lazy bluelighted spots  women in gaudy or strict outfits began to strip                                                                                   

 --   Thats what Im talking about Now thats what Im talking about  his brother remarked throwing quick sharp elbows at his shoulder and chest 
 

the fat man on the other side of the woman beside his brother stood up in the pale light and tried thrusting his erect cock into her smeared red lipsticked mouth   he struggled

not that she wasnt for it  but his thighs were too big

she rooted between them like a hog at the trough to have its morsel

YEAH   ---   take that to bed   ---   see what sleeping on it would buy . . .

--   Alright!  he liked that

YER ON!

Thursday afternoon/evening,  26  2. 15