he dug the colour red
dug red the way micks celebrate
green
and
whoever went whichever way
red spoke to him
like the mountains did like being immersed in cold clear water
shared
with brown cutthroat trout and watercress
it lashed him
like Ulysses to the mast of his unknown ship
as the Sirens song reached
his ears seducing him
although
he was unable to thrash free
then
exhausted his legs collapsed and he remained strung upright on the knots and
binds his crew devised
it abraded him
like the coal ash and gravel in his Chicago
alleyway
fallen as he ran away from the bigger
boys when it was smart to run
they never came at him one at a
time
the dolts with sudden intellect
remembered
their bruises and black eyes by his unfettered fury
he dug red
as an Aries would
blindly
lustily
1738, Saturday,
8 8. 15
