he was weeding working the plants in his yard watering them with a galvanized two gallon
can
the weeding it humoured him it was no different than plucking the occasional
grey hair out of his chest
and every
time he did he found himself caught off guard by the queer hairlessness his American
culture desiredits obsessive shaving waxing bare skin
an unseemly obsession with impossible youth children arent hirsute he was
struck that adults couldnt seem to accept their bodies
“. . when I
became a man I put away childish things(Corinthians 13:11 KJV)” teased him
out loud he
said Its called puberty
it was the closest
thing Americans had to a rite of passage
we werent compelled
to kill a lion with a spearaspire to a vision questthere werent life-
threatening challenges to attain our manhood or womanhood that other cultures
once commended
but then this culture
wasnt of his choosing
he was
embeddeda weed sown years ago and grown in their midsthis taproot was deep
he kept his
head on a swivel looking out for arms that reached hands hoes weeders
that they didnt
try to extract him surprised him(tables turned he might have)
they simply flourished
grew up all around himtheir hairlessness
tats piercings plugs
they spent
scads of money identifying their uniqueness
although it seemed it was consumed by everyone elses until no one was
anything more than just another tree in the forest stereotyped
IDd
he was obvious
for what he didnt have
unclothed then
more obvious by his scars
they were as
close as he was ever going to get to a tattoo
he took pride
in them their origin and storiestheir unexpectedness
shoving liquor
bottles on the counter towards him Wheres your tattoos man
No tattoos he
repliedhe smiled I wouldnt have a tribe
that would have me
nonplussed the
man glared at him
quickly ringing up his order You havent heard that oneGroucho Marx
No I havent No tattoos man
None
haltingly abruptly
he paid his bill with crumpled cash Why wouldnt you have a tat
They never
appealed to me
You think Im
unappealing
handing him his
change looking him in the eye Definitely Thank you for your business then he looked pass him to the next customer
Man Youre a freak
No I am not You should take your purchaseyour
nonplussed puss and leave the store
Wha
Puss Ya callin me a pussy
If you think
nonplussed is pussy Sure Why not Please take your disconcertedness and go
Big words man
No Vocabulary If I had a moment Id write them down for you so
you could look em up in a dictionary
Fuck you man
So sorry Youre
not my type
1504, Day-between-Two-Ts, 17 5.
17
1340 days remaining or fewer Russian buhbye
David Bowie Changes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3vxEudif8
