The sound on the television set was OFF

he detested their voices 

the National Networks announcers

prettified milquetoast

even if they did know the game

they hadnt anything or were nearly on par with the local radio boys who won his allegiance with their hulk gristle and menace as they talked up the game from the corrugated-wrapped booth clinging like a bat to the steel rafters above the playing field 

         

their words were his cup of tea

they sounded like his city and the teams who performed for its blue-collared mutts

                            

their throats bawdy  thickened with cigarette and cigar smoke  lacquered with shots and beers

“The kick is up   and   it      is       GOOOOD!!

Fiftytwo yards  Tough kick  Critical  Putsem up by four with just over three minutes to tick”

on the television screen the football strikes and rolls down the net erected spun behind the uprights in the endzone

the camera follows the ball down the net to a waiting attendant who may or may not catch it cleanly

 

something else to bet on

and just behind the net  blurred by its seine  are hand-lettered black print white signs  JOHN  3:16

--   Jesus

--   Jesus

--   Yah

  

Awright Im looking that shit up What the fuck is john three sixteen

--   From the bible

--   The bible  You know what it means

--   Sumptin biblical

Hurrah for our team Hurrah for our side

--   Hurrah for our team

--  Donknow Guessin Why doncha look it up

--   I will

--   You  

got a bible

--   I do Snatched it out of the Howard Johnsons nightstand where we stayed when we went north a couple years back

Up to Green Bay

--   Dat was a great fuckin trip Great game

--   Great

--   Yah

Yadon tink

--   I had a great time You got the clap From the girl off the Wisconsin River

--   Fuck Did Damn Near forgot

Tanks

--   Youre welcome

Hmm John

Awright

  

An three

Yes

An sixteen

 Here

          I quote  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son  that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life

--   At a game Why

--   Freaks

--   Jesus Christ football freaks

--   Come on man  I get it                  

You gotta follow                                                                                         

Free airtime  glimpses  to pitch the Man
 

--   Deres other signs in the other endzone

--   There are

Strategic huh

--   Strategic  Could ya imagine being one of dem screwballs

I couldnt 

 

Couldnt hold a sign
Id have beers in either hand or a flask of Jimmy an a beer

--   Yes

 

Got to have octane for a ballgame

Could suppose their octane is Jesus Christ

--   Jesus Christ 

Ya said it

Between those holies an military jets streakin over the stadium at the end of the National Anthem

 

I wonder

--   Wonder

--   Yah

Whaddafuck

Whas wid da stripes  blatant IDs

his down cast eyes and expression suggested he was working overtime in his skull  not his forte

Mahn  I got half a mind to wear a yamaka flip off the anthem an jets

Makin me uncomfortable bein an American 

Hell
        A white man

--   There is that

--   Deres dat dats all ya got

--   Comes with the turf

Sole super power

Entitlement Indispensible In God We Trust

You know

he puts his hand over his heart

God Bless America

--   Like wees som Goddamn Tiny Tim

God Bless Us Everone

But not really everone

Everone who looks like us

--   Careful friend

 

Good thing the games ending

 

You sound loaded Sounds like you need some food an black coffee

--   Nah really

When dis country get hijacked

--   When

You havent thought that before

--   Nah  Ashamed to say I havent

he put his arm over his shoulders

--   Dont beat yourself up

Insidious

An youre a workin man with a family 

Distracted

Eyeing shiny things they want you to eyeball

Keeps your screws tight

--   Ya sayin yers are loose

--   Youd think 

                       Wouldnt you

1757,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  30  9. 15

1539,  Thursday,  1  10. 15

Watch  Are you seeing this?

Hes taking ice in his water rocks in his drink

You ever see anything like itIve never seen anything like itNot in regards to him

Hes usually staid stoic unremarkably noncontroversially controversial

Ice is antithetical to who he is

His ethic his morose dull dyed-in-the-wool face-in-the-mirror Mirror mirror on the wall Whaddafucks up widdat?

when he finally got up from his stool at the bar he abruptly saluted his reflection in the mirror behind the bottle

a quick touch of his finger to his eyebrow

unsteady

he took a somber deep breath

grounded himself

took on the weight the air fed him

he staggered a couple more steps

stopped

sucked up a few more heavy breaths

better   he seemed

walking   the stagger staggered out of him

he crossed the naked stained wood floor

crossed the bluelit bar and exited

I saw him scribble at a napkin with a cheap ballpoint pen  when he stood he stuck it in the back pocket of his worn jeans   they were frayed at his thighs

the napkin remained

its corner tucked under the emptied iced tumbler 

that was unlike him

he never left anything he wrote

not that I ever saw

I crossed the floor to where he sat

he should have been a tagger

what did it read

after awhile my eyes grew accustom to the scratch
Jesus

I am the left hand of God(he was lefthanded  the napkin was to the left of his emptied drink) He uses me to wipe his ass

I knew certain cultures  such as the Japanese  would have put him to death as a child when his prominent hand was realised

theyre righthanded   wiped their asses with the fingers of their left

lefthanded was deemed Evil
                                               sacrilegious   unclean   

the ice in the tumbler shifted clinked as it melted

he left a postscript What is, is wrong.

so much for staid

he rarely ever used punctuation

huh

I am the left hand of GodHe uses me to wipe his ass

I went outside into the embrace of the cold night air

he was nowhere to be seen

in the fresh fallen snow I saw his sharp footsteps in relief

no staggering

they strode to the curb where he must have paused and lit a cigarette 

 

a burnt wood match  dropped  had melted the flakes surrounding it

his footprints went left

there were several 

they stopped

as if he disappeared

1325,  Sunday  later a Super Moon and an eclipse,  27  9. 15