an oddball collectionhed say so if asked

                                           but wisely no one did  gave him a wide berth

those who remained gathered in the livingroom fourteenfifteen  most were couple  he and two gals were stag

everyone was an appreciative guests he crossed his fingers

it was a enormous livingroom

                               a tapestry hung over the fireplace above a massive mantel objet d’art on the handhewn redwood which was retrieved from a river in northern California where it sank over a hunred years ago 

                                                                                                             he stood there most the evening fingering it crazy to feelup history old growth  more than a thousand years old 

                                                                                                        it humbled him

Jim his host  You've been standing here most of the evening.

  Yes   I don like being setup 

                               You know tha

Not my idea, Charlene’s, she thinks it’s an awful shame you’re not datingnot with anyone, she’d fuck you if you came onto her . .

. . ChristJim

Between you me the mantel, old money, family’s oldfashioned obsessions . . 

. . Which you love about her . .

. . Until I don’t.

 Thats frank

You’re frank . . saying how it is.

                                   Sometimes I'm jealous of you.

Don be

         Cost a heartbreak he looked in Jims face under his lacquered jetblack hair  But yare not likely to ever suffer a heartbreak

No I’m not.  It’s an economy you’ll never admit or understand.

Right on brother  right on

 

they were served brandy elegant cut leadcrystal glasses 

                                                            he loved the honeycolour ambersplashes coming out of them from quiveringlights out the fireplacethe huge candledcandelabra overheadthe hurricane vase candles on the massive oval coffee table end tables before and beside upholstered couches chairs

                                                                              the room felt medieval

or maybe it was the percolating esoteric conversation  heady

he kept his lip buttoned except to sip a fourteenyear Oban whisky brandy didnt appeal to him Jim didnt take exception Charlene did it was her party 

                                           whatever she wanted her friends enabled

he wasnt her friend  Jims

 

Awfuck

         if he hadnt pour himself a fresh tumbler he would have left  cant abandon Oban

Charlene prompted a conversation about souls soulmates  she passivelyaggressively stuck it to him for not submitting

they made eyecontact

he saw the points of her canines through her smile

she was carnivorous

hed be lying if he didnt believe she gave great head

he nodded to her smile held up his glass  a silent toast fuck you between them 

                                                                                     who needs words

the lobbed soul soulmates went around the room like a chubby soft balloon an atmospheric jellyfish

Joe said Charlene   Your thoughtsa penny for your thoughts.

Pennys not enough

                     This isnt a game I can playparticipate in

Pray tell.

  That either

              I cant play I havent a soul

funny how words can sound loudecho resoundingly

he slapped the mantels end

sounded like a gunshot

the room startled

  fuckin children

     NOPE  GOT NO SOUL 

                            Somebody sporting one ought carry on

he took another sip of Oban

                            Damn

                                       refreshing  like sipping from a baptismal font after an innocent was dipped

suntime,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  25  5. 22

1548,  Sunday,  5  6. 22

Jimmy Page Robert Plant  The Rain Song  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeDylD8dV7U

he tamped the weedbud  there was a seedmaybe two lockedup  he didnt mind fireworks he firedup the wood pipe  of recentfuck recent  if he thought about it he was a remnant no one else fired up a bowl unless they were hitting a bong  he liked to puffplay with the exhale he liked the straight perfumemusk of smouldering grass

                                                                                                     Aaah  pleasantly higBAM a firework shower of ash tinyembers slivers extinguishing midair before his eyes

pleasantly high

                  he put the pipe down

   

Moby alias Goofy preferred chewing an edible 

he didnt mind nibbling though preferred smoking  nauif he could see himself buying into THClaced Bazooka Joe bubblegum getting stoned blowing enormous bubbles into which hed insert words

                                                                                    like the Funnies have to imprison words  cant have them floatingaround in the atmosphere corrupting corruptible minds 

                                                                                           talking to himself Whas a corruptible mind Is it the mindcorrupted or the mind tha can corrupt huddlingup with his internals heathens Whaya say gang Im the latteryah

               they smirked  The ladder?   he smirked  Staircase   they doubleddown  To Heaven?   Think Ill piss off Zeppelin   Nah. The ladder.   I agree

                                         it was good getting that off his chesttheir collective breasts 

                                                                                                   Now he’s gone an done it. Had to segue to sex.   Is thawha it is   Ya know damn well it’s exactly wha it is.   Awright consider us seguing   Ifya don mind we’ll watch an listen from the wings, want the full effect the wideangle on your conversationinterrogation with Goofy.   Great aliashuh   You think so, you made the assignment, didn’t call counsel.   I don call counsels   No ya don, we bear witness, capitulate.   Stopstop I hear your barks an plenty of times Ive employed them  still not counsel is it   Suppose not.   Know not  know knot  now knot  now not   Having fun?   When do I don

 

Moby Really  NBA players    Hate comin back to it but you truly gauged your agingadulthood by recognising you were older than basketball players Unlike me who realised playmates were younger than me

Yes.  I’ve told you.

Im stillas you can tell still struggling with the concept  Frankly itsa standalone

Stand alone? You think other guys didn’t use the NBA as a metric?

No

No.

     That’s mighty abrupt friend.

Keep it down woudya I prefer no one overhears you calling me friend while tethered to the youth of NBA players

Nothing to be ashamed of . .

. . Yanuts compared to playmates  Yare nuts 

                                                  Thinking it over I also realised why I was shocked looking at Playboy the playmates were older than me forChrist tentwelve years then laterthe next time I looked I was older than them

despite being stoned Moby was hanging with him

                                                     What did you realise? 

I realised the glut I was in the midst of a primal sexual glut A gluts better than being on a roll to drop a bowling term knocking down pins  Glut is up to your eyeballs in it   Immersion Fluid

he saw Moby letting go

                          Ya following me Goofy hissed his heathens in the wings

  I am not.

Pretty fucking apparent man

Apparent?

Yes As beauty is skin deep your comprehension is like an oilsheen either its there or it isnt   I cant see it

No?  I do not understand . . glut.

How to say not that I havent already Listen to mejust  listen to me 

                                                                       From the times between playmates being older than me to me being older than them was an in-between  a glut haze years of continuous sex  I didnt come up to breathe  Then one day I took a breath on the other side an I was older 

                                                                   Follow

  Moby hesitated   I think following the NBA is easier.

Nothing to brag about man  nothing at all

suntime,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  25  5. 22

1040,  Sunday,  5  6. 22

Laura Branigan  Gloria (alias)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNEb2k_EmMg

Coarse he barked 

                    he was inside his headpulling through shit while his buddy went inside to snag some more beers

he hadnt seen him return to the yard eyes were closed cant rummage in his head with his eyes widesprung 

                                                                                                                          Coarse?

he peeked 

            Thaswha I said Yare quicker than I thoughthit the head too

I did I did . . we’re stoned, possibly on different time zones.

  I like that thought 

                        Not like you to be novel

Awcomon gimme a break . everyone has a moment . . however my momentsI’d say few  can keep up with yours . not no wayno how.

he laughed 

            Might be onto something there seems my moments are stored on reels

Your monkeys . your obscure little personalities load them?

I coudnt say

              Possible

So coarse . . you yelled . what’s coarse if I understood you correctly?

You did Im coarse . .

. . Usually.

Im coarse in a different way

A different waycan’t argue that.

Thank you  Youd lose

Not so much me losing than you winning . . your outlines are dense, well-formed, before you arguebefore you bring them up . . you can imagine I’m anxious to hear.

 Yah 

       I was rummaging   Fuck buddy  came off his tongue asif it tasted like shit 

Fuck buddy?

Thas coarseyah

nearly incredulous Fuck buddy’s coarse to you?

Is  Compare it to friends with benefits Subtler though still a tad coarse   Whawe call it when we were younger

 What did we call it? 

                         Man . . don’t think it had a name . .

. . Yah  why name it

No . . . I can’t think of anything.

Nah only thing thacomes to mind  Were together

Ah good yes, I think you’re onto something.

 Yah 

         So imagineas teens we were together together with our girlfriends  then the erosion friends with benefits fuck buddies 

          Am I wrong or that erosion  coarse

Times change.

Dat dey do dat dey do

                         Though Id rather be with someone than call them a fuck buddy  Ever have one

A fuck budd . .

. . By todays coarse common nomenclature  terminology

No . . can’t say I did . . . perhaps one, you?

Ohyes yes

            A glut . .

. . Ya kidding me?

No Gluttonous   Ravenous 

                             Chalkup a cardinal sin to my column clutch of concubines confab  fabulous   Those were the days

suntime,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  25  5. 22

1415,  Sunday,  5  6. 22

Turtles  Happy Together  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRCe5L1imxg 

Mary Hopkins  Those Were the Days  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1SIexPh3ic

   his cellphone rang 

                          Who’s Arroyo Grande?

Arroyo Arapaho  Rap a ho 

                              Don answer it

I know quite a few people in Arroyo Grande. asif mesmerised 

                                                                 goddamn cellphones Pandora boxes flimsy temptations  hot curiosity

Yaknow better If the number aint in your phone ya don know emdon answer it

I’m answering it . .

catnip 

traffic accidents

cant look away

                   could

but would rather not

might miss out 

who doesnt enjoy anothers misfortune their agony thats why we cant help but laugh  laugh because eventually well be at the bottom of the heap 

                            so we laugh while we can our turn soon enough even a piker would bet big on that 

he wasnt he wouldnt

 

I’m answering it . .

Answer it Im not your conscience  Itll be horseshit but thas on you

You miss ever three-point basket you don’t take.

Answering a phone no number Arroyo Grande designation  lousy sports analogy bub 

he answered it

bot blathered called him by his name 

                                            Here Fidohere Fido  here Fido

he hung up

So whos Arroyo Grande

I don’t know.

Yadonsay

They didn’t say.

Yadonsay his eyes flicked Yadonsay he rolled his eyes   Yadonsay he bugged his eyes 

                                                                                                      Who was it  They didnt say

An old bit

              Christ yare such an ass

It might have been important.

Absolutely  It wasnt   Yet ya still coudnt resisthad to answer 

                                                                   Fetch  fetch Fido fetch the ball 

Im rolling it into traffic

Canya resist it now 

Or aintya seen enough smashed squirrels

 

    NOTHING

suntime,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  25  5. 22

2102,  Saturday,  4  6. 22

Zappa  Cheepnis  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etQm3gzjyNw