he was a fool he wrote
those leave however remained still unmoved weighted by real death
really
he walked away from them after
their performance after waiting a
considerable timeenough time to draw motorists to him as he stood along the road was he okay
Yes I am Thank you Im fine some he had to insist Really Im fine
Please I very much appreciate you
stopping but I am fine
when he did walk away he walked
backwards some fifty metres or better watching for the slightest hint that they
would movethat they would act like all the other leaves that afternoon knocked
aboutbuffeted by the breeze swirling and
moving on eddies whipped into the gutters swallowed by the storm drains flung
into the mowed grass field beyond the old barbed wire fence strung on rotting
posts
they did not move
they laid fast as if nailed to
the earth on shoulder of the road
returning the following day he
passed around them on his way back and forth from the gym
and the next day
and the next
with a stick he scribbled quick
circles around themfifteen pairs to claim where they laywhere they collapsed at
the end of their performance
the next day too
they didnt decay they didnt fray he did not bend to touch them to
test if they were more supple or brittle
they were constant
real death?
and when he finally convinced himself of their real death while lying in bed beside his girlfriend listening to her rhythmic breathingwatching her breathsconcentrating on the rise and fall of her uncovered breasts her nipples quickening to a sudden breeze through the window screentiptoeing across them the breeze ceased her nipples relaxedrecovered their repose when he convinced himself the leaves were weighted with real death and he didnt have to concern himself any longer with the poses death inflicted on them understanding that death inflicted those poses on everyone and everything
the following morning
passing by them he confirmed for
the last time they were unmoved they were rigid in death
then returning home after working
himself very hardhis gait impairedalready his muscles protesting crossing up
the block from them and closing in no wind to cool his body the sun harsh he saw their many pointsthe
ends of their spars tremble and quiver then their bodies brightened even as a cloud threw its shadow across the
street then they were surrounded by haunting
auras halos and they lifted by pairs one
at a time into the air rising like
monarchs from milkweed crowns then
turning like a vast constellation moving on one anothers gravity or bearing
they twisted in and out of each other an elaborate threedimensional dance higher
and higher into the sky drifted west when usually only easterly
winds prevailed off the breast of the Pacific climbing into the blue sky hued and shimmering pinpoints they suddenly collapsedcoalesced into a
singular bauble an entity
and disintegrated
and disintegrated
is real death then ashes to ashes
dust to dust ?
in the afternoon watching
a swallowtail, Twosday, 5 6.
18
1557, Reggae Friday, 8 6. 18
1557, Reggae Friday, 8 6. 18
Dale Cooper Quartet and
Dictaphones Son Mansarde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkxM6mMSKNo
