two presented
“How can you know the present
without it first becoming the past in the future?”
the griot Kouyate “I teach kings the history of their ancestors
so that the lives of the ancients might serve them as an example, for the world
is old, but the future springs from the past.”
he would keep an eyeball peeled
for the thirdthings come in threes or
was he supposed to play a part in the
trilogy
unlikely
he read watched the original of many
but rarely their sequels Stallone broke him of that
past
present
future
things come in three
Time is fascinating
hed be patient
hed make like the small
brown squirrel who joined him on the sidewalk it came out of a wild stand of trees grasses weeds which bordered a creek
he thought he might be
surprised but wasnt
taking the book from his face he put a finger in it closed ittucked
it in his armpit and walked beside the squirrel he let it set the pace
they came upon a narrow dirt path
that veered and descended to the water the squirrel in no particular hurry
it left him on the sidewalk
he watched it
mosey
it stopped threefour times sat on its haunches nibbled young grass clover fallen acorns he watched it until it went
around behind high grass
couldnt say he walked with a
squirrel before
it was small
he assumed young
maybe it didnt know any better or
maybe it did or maybe it didnt care
he thought it might reemerge
he waited
waited awhile
the characters in the book he was
reading grew restless they wanted to continue their story he conceded he went off with them
patiently however he was going to keep his
eyes peeled
2001, Monday,
18 4. 22
2339, Monday
1st quote pg205
Robin McLean Pity the Beast
2nd quote pg55 Teju Cole quotes in Black Paper
griot oral history tradition, storyteller
No comments:
Post a Comment