From where he sat
in a poorly illumined
yellow-walled waitingroom
on a sheet
of yellow paper inside a vinyl
slip
in black capital letters
he could read either
PLEASE
NO CO D OR
D INKS
A
LOWED
THANK YOU
or leaning backward against the creaking
mustard vinyl seat he sat on he saw
EASE
NO ODD R
DRINKS
ALL WED
THAN OU
a simple posted sign
static
soliciting different sorts of messages
nothing more
overhead the flickering incanindecent
lighting slapped the vinyl slip in the face twisting
and flaring its opacity
yet through its frivolous skin the sign sought to convey and convey
and convey to any eye it might
convince to pay it heed
convey like odd fingers or a broken hand
tickling the air or waving from inside a
car trunk through a broken taillight
and kept at it
kept at it
trying
with limited abilities
to
grab anyones attention
and communicate -- if
not distinctly or accurately -- Communicate
why would a sheet of eightandahalf by eleven inch paper thumbtacked dead-center to a deep brown fabric
bulletin board work as hard as it did
EASE
NO OO
OR
INKS
A WED
THANK YOU
two out of three messages THANKed
him
politely
panicked
LEASE
NO FOOD
DRINKS
OWED
THANK YOU
politely panicked
he couldnt resist its beckoning
he stood up and walked across the carpet made up of twentyfour inch square tiles whose myriad lines were colored blood rust and hues and agitated greens and laid perpendicular to the other forming
he stood up and walked across the carpet made up of twentyfour inch square tiles whose myriad lines were colored blood rust and hues and agitated greens and laid perpendicular to the other forming
a huge maniacal
checkerboard
he stood before the secured spreadeagle
page
looked over its literate stubborn
unflinching message
then gently stroked its cheek and
held its chin with the knuckle of his folded index finger
I hear ya kid Yaint two dimensional nor too dissimilar
from me
he dug the thumbtacks out of its
lower corners and freed its upper righthand
then holding it flat to the board
beneath the palm of his right hand
he
juggled the tacks in his left into his palm and with his fingers free he yanked out the
last tack
the page sighed
rolled up and curled
around his forearm like a sleeve
and held him
1624, Friday,
21 8. 15
