. . . How much

She said six grand. 

he flinched

I said six grand.

I heard ya

You didn’t say anything

   I was thinking

                   An how old you say she is

Fifty early fifties.

Why

      Why did she say

I didn’t ask.

Shes fifty  She confides she had a breast augmentation an you were incurious as to why  In a relationship pursuing one

I don’t know I didn’t ask.

Look at me

dramatically he set his coffee down on the outdoor café table and looked up at himWhat? 

                                                                                                anger beginning to crowd his features

If hes thinking to get angry he ought to hold onto his socks  Ill drive him over the wallround the corner

                                                                                                  Thought as much

As much what?

Unenthusiastic  Dead behind the eyes   Euthanised

What the fuck are you talking about?

How can you be so freakin incurious a fifty year old opts for a breast job . .

. . She’s had one before, then had them removed, and now she’s had another . .

. . She admitted that

She did.

She confides in you anya let tha swing in the breeze havent a question any questions any curiosity

About what?

Shes fifty She look thirtyfive

No.

Stymieing me No

                   How old does she look

Older.

Fuck me

         Older than thirtyfive forty fortyfive  older than fifty fiftyfive

Older.

Than

Than?

You heard me

                Where did this conversation take place

At a party a gathering

That twice a year high school reunion . .

. . It’s not twice a year.

Maybe not but as affectionate as you are talking about it throughout the year it feels like twice  She wasnt in your class

No.

A friend of a classmate

No.

An acquaintance or relation of a friend of a classmate  a partycrasher

Cat got your tongue   

What’s with all the questions?

Noyadidnt

What?

A question You asked a question

It was none of my business.

She made it your business

It’s none of my business.

Evasive  Lack details

                       How is it most things you paint with such broad miserable miserable strokes

I get along with . .

. . You don wanna cross anybody You wanna be Mr Nice Guy 

                                                                    Milquetoast ya understand

You’re no nice guy.

No  I aint

afternoon,  Monday,  4  9. 23

1048,  Sunday,  22  10. 23

Alice Cooper  No More Mr. Nice Guy  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huKbLK5aC6Q

Whastha kids name  From the new Dune flicks

Ooh . . Timothee Chalamet. she sighed

Thas it

         Bets   Didya just sigh

I did. He’s dreamy.

YahI don see it but youre a chick  he laughed

                                                    Hows he spell his name   took out  pen and paper

T I M . .

. . Yah Timothy

   . . . O T H E  E

Arya kiddin me

No.  Hothuh?

   No

       Donnie  Ya listenin to your girl friend

turning his attention back to Bets 

                                     He strikes me effete  His last name  How do you spell tha

He’s not effete.

Not to you  Last name please

Chalamet  C H A L A M E T.

Thank you

Why?

Well given your sigh an defense  had a thought percolatecrawl through my head  I think youll appreciate it more than cherries

Would you quit?

I am I am

           Howbout this Chalamet on a charcuterie board  A delicacy   Methinks youd agree

   she eyed him pokerface

he pokerfaced her back

she cracked a smile

                      That’ll get you back in my good graces.  Chalamet charcuterie.

Donnie harrumphed What the hell, am I chopped liver?

Arya not listening to the tone of her voice

                                             Yaint makin the board

   That was very thoughtful of you, Joe.

Owed ya Bets Boys will be Buoys

                                      Thanks for sparing me verse

afternoon,  Monday,  4  9. 23

1647,  Saturday,  21  10. 23

The Buoys  Timothy  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXn0uIF60iU

racing to Twentyfifth place after being Fifth three days ago

                                                                Writier

   Google 

           About 1,010 results – 302 results more still troubled by an algorithm that says About (0.20seconds) faster by 0.08seconds three days ago

AI Powered Writing Assistant

Writier

“Compose great content in seconds with the help of Writier’s AI-powered sentence completions. Getting started is simple and free – say goodbye to writer’s …” he assumed but didnt look block 

                                                                                 Whastha 

that declaration hardly competes with “Our long-form editor is the best way to write content that can compete with professional writers.”

                        sentence completions v. write content that can compete with professional writers

might be a good thing its simple and free

fishing

        for CUNTS  whomever would utilise Writier

repeating 

            No offence to women

fishing

trolling

         formulating BAIT   

   Writers

             Sit down an do the hard work of writing  finding your own voice

Be authentic

2100,  Saturday,  21  10. 23

America  I Need You  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAQq0PV2yow

twisted like a worm penetrated by a fishhook

                                                        bait

couldnt help himself from baiting him

Why do you have to go there?

Because it troubles you so

It doesn’t . .

. . It does      Absolutely

he rolled his eyes

Ya gonna disagree   Absolute zero

                                     Zero degrees Kelvin minus twohunredseventythree degrees Celsius minus fourhunredfiftyninepointsixtyseven degrees Fahrenheit Absolute zero lowest limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale Ive been boning up state at which enthalpy an entropy of a cooled ideal gas reach their minimum value  Molecules atoms do not move

That’s theoretically absolute. Thermodynamics, if I’m not mistaken, has proven it is impossibl . .

. . Not necessarily  Possibly improbable but not impossible

                                                              Because understanding impossible correctly woud suggest it is an absolute   Physicists  Quantumphysicists may not be there just yet  but theyre mighty close

Then it is not an absolute, is it?

And  impossible

                   If impossible its already   absolutely not possible    Or am I incorrect

   Can we get off this ride?

One other thing

                    Authenticity Is tha an absolute    Either one is or they are not

I think that’s subjective.

Think or believe

                  Degrees of authenticity  Flip a silver dollar heads authentic tails inauthentic  One or the other

a stick in the mud I think it’s subjective.

By whos flipping it or if they let the coin hit the floor it balances perfectly on edgefalls  neither one way or the other

Now you’re being ridiculous.

Arent I usually  according to you 

                                   More often than not

More often.

But not absolutely ridiculous

Shaddup.

afternoon,  Monday,  4  9. 23

1258,  Saturday,  21  10. 23

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Absolute_zero

https://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/02/20/is-anything-absolutely-impossible/ 

Crosby, Stills and Nash  Suite: Judy Blue Eyes  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGT0P0XJRFM Free  

Free  Heartbreaker  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfNxuSjfPbw

laying out around the pool sipping something tall and cool  subtlehint of liquor he didnt ask what it was  was satisfied fingering the sweaty hurricane glass

                                        looked like there was a cherry in it

Is that a cherry

A Luxardo. she said looking over her sunglasses

I don know whatha is

Are you a cretin? still looking over her glasses

Possibly  not usually keen on foofoo drinks  An this is

                                                             Luxardo

An expensivevery expensive maraschino cherry.

he looked hard into her eyes over the top of her bronzelensed glasses

                                                                          This is the first cherry Ive ever had

In a drink

she pushed her glasses up on her face

What are you two talking about? her boy friend asked

Cherries

The Luxar . .

. . No  Cherries

he tipped his head like a cockerspaniel hafexpected him to scratch his ear with his foot too

                                                                                                 What cherries?

Have you had a cherry before

he looked at Bets What’s he talking about?

What he said. she said

Joe. What are you talking about?

As I said he exclaimed he was an idea guyplanted seeds they could grow into whatever they wanted

That’s loaded.

It is

       Bets Ya checkinout

I’m not interested in the conversation.

both Bets and Donnie had streaks of prude in themsometimes more than others   but always

First dates thought hed keep it in fruit

                                       Count as foreplay Anasone who says so theres no confusion where I stand  Not suggesting one way or the otherrather just to say   I think its foreplaybasic foreplay   It may also go no furthur

Jesu . .

. . Careful Donnie Lets not offend Bets sensibiliti . .

. . I’m not offended, I’m not as religious as you think I . .

. . You cite verse Im adverse

When it’s appropriate I don’t mean to offen . .

. . You don

               

You can’t offend Joe.

   No Bets Yacant

                     Ya have to care to be offended an I don care Youre welcome to all the verses youd like but knowagree  you cite em

I know I do.

So you two lets quit beatinround the bush an stick it in

                                                              First date foreplay

Do you have to say it like that?

Donnie

Really . . do you have to say it like that?

Ive said it two different ways an said what I think  The world aint gonna quit turning because of our answers

they lifted their glassessipped their drinks through straws 

                                                               he ditched his

they werent saying

unifying

          in quietude

Awright then Another subject

                                   Boob jobs Augmentation Or disarticulation   Disarticulation

he wasnt gonna say what he meant

                                      let em chew on it as they were chewing silently on one of several Luxardos in their drinks

he only had the one

                       he sucked on it noisily returned it artfully to his drink  savored his cherry

     

afternoon  2-ish,  Monday,  4  9. 23

1153,  Saturday,  21  10. 23

The Archies  Sugar Sugar  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om5O6GL7cLY

Robert Rauschenberg

                        a fascinating Cold War artist whos name he consistently misspelled Sorry Bob  Rawschemberg  which immediately disintegrated  Rochambeaugrr an Roshambogrr grr smalldog growl  Rock Paper Scissors

couldnt help himself

no filter

unbound

            was no Prometheus feeding eagles

although he was confident that Bobby wouldnt be offended if he were alive

                                                                                 certainly not the man who said

Nearly everything that I’ve done was to see what would happen if I did this instead of doing that . . . art shouldn’t have a concept.

which was exactly why he wrote

                                   to see where it went

traveled without a destination

                                or destiny

he didnt want to endup there

1220,  Thursday,  19  10. 23

1011,  Saturday,  21  10. 23

demeaning dementia

hes been called demented

took the caller to task

You know know always pronounced enthusiastically  he wished theyd be as enthusiastic about their lives half as much as they are about his what I’m talking about.

Lemme give it a shot 

                      Derives from the Latin de to undo mens meaning mind  therefore to say a person has dementia says that he or she has a disease process that undoes their mind whereas I am demented is tantamount to saying I no longer have a mind

                     Like making grapes into winewhine

gave him awry smile Frankly I don mind

Goddammit! he snarled he snarled only because he knew he wouldnt hauloff and belt him You think you’re so funny.

he had a family pass

hed sic Mommy or Daddy on him

                                    asif Mom or Dad had any influence or sway over him

he wasnt him

however he understood his touchiness

headmittedly was becoming forgetful

he couldnt forget if he tried

                            couldnt forget the enormous bluewater glass tank the three men he knocked into it jumped in after cut their throats with a razor knife

he thought their bodies would sink to the bottom

they hung suspended like puppets

on strings of their blood

                         couldnt forget going to a rural dirt road drive-in he entered it riding a motorcycle its name was Rear View art deco signage lit with lightbulbs above the stacked words were the yellow spectacled eyeswatching eyes of Dr T J Eckleburg  The Great Gatsby he negotiated the price of his ticket  I don have a trunk to hide people

couldnt forget the albino alligator palestblue eyes that stalked him through the swamp had to be frustratingstalked  might be too strong trailed him  the big lizard utterly too obvious

couldnt forget at a distance the gleaming pearlescent airport he parked his car nearby in a neighbourhood walked to climbed its security fence snipped the razorwire crossed the tarmac and snuck aboard a Douglas C-47 a twin-engine propjob that was chartered for Marilyn Monroe who soon boarded   Hiya Marilyn   Ohgood you made it. We’re going to have a ball. he appreciated her enthusiasm

                                               couldnt forget

was abetted by a long long memory

   he was tempted to shake his brothers head and listen if a pea rattled around inside

1101,  Thursday,  19  10. 23

1158,  Reggaefriday,  20  10. 23

“Are we ourselves?

   “One of them is asking. One of them thinks this is a rhetorical question: there’s continuity of memory, and that makes a self. A self is whoever remembers being that self.

   “One of them corrects: Continuity of memory filtered through endocrine response.

   “One of them corrects: We all remember being that self, are we are not the same.” *

                                                                                            a triad

How nice he thought being only three twos a company threes a crowd he smiled appreciatively  shehes heshes couldnt resist smiled with him  Whaof my myriad they nodded  they ran circuits percolated collated were subtle ran roughshod sometimes meteoric others tumbled like tumbleweeds stumbled like bums

                                                                              a self is whoever remembers being that self . . . continuity of memory filtered through endocrine response . . . we are not the same

We are he looked across the room inside himself at the myriad he understood they helped maintainworked together with him for his bodys and psychological equilibrium equiltlibrium eustasis  tides

was dumb luck

was fortune

   spidereyed compoundedeyes faceted facile 

                                                    it took him a long timehis childhood to bring together the concerted concert consorts cons thick as thieves  inspiring  aspiring  rarely despairing

and because of them he thoughtindulged Why not rather than Why

are we ourselves

                     only if we know ourself

1430ish,  Thursday, 19  10. 23

1019,  Reggaefriday,  20  10. 23

*pg347  A Memory Called Empire  Arkady Martine

endocrine response  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK278995/

Uriah Heep  Look At Yourself  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMMrazRIdx4

must have thought it was a butterfly

                                          though not a very smart butterfly

it was smarter than thatthey were smarter than that

                                                         but maybe not  he couldnt differentiate one from another

maybe the few he interacted with were females  his natural inclination assumed they were

as was his experience with females of his species 

he was inclined to say females of most species were smarter than the males

   shrubjays 

               the California edition

like bluejays the East of the Rockies edition 

                                               an never the two shall meet naturally the mountains unless a preternatural shrub or blue was undaunted which made him think of Bachs Jonathan Livingston Seagull 

                                                                                                               had to read it like he had to get highhad to take LSDhad to do other psychedelics

                                                                       had to exceed natural impediments

he used an old beatup tin cup actually a TWO CUP measure to feed kibble to his feral outdoor cats

having fed the four of them he set the cup down on the porch railing kibbles remained he had thought he heard something over his head he looked didnt see anythingHide ‘n Seek jay concealed itselfsquatted in the raingutter 

then walking away on the wraparound overlooking the sideyard to say Gmornin to his white sage Ayo – Joy English walnut Eye Idi – Eagle Skinny he still had no idea what Skinny was she was tall and slender and Slim she was also an English walnut although he did not transplant her 

                                                         and saying hello he heard a scuffle a dullring of the tin cup on the redwood deck

saw a shrubjay leapaway

                             it tried to land on it feed like a sparrow at seed

the heavyweight stood on the blacktop drive bobbing waiting  waiting for him to toss the spilt kibble to it

Boid

      they all were Boids

he couldnt distinguish one from another but it or they humoured him by their willingness to eat catfud

as it was

           he was trying different canned dogfoods to determine which appealed to his taste budswhich texture appealed most

Dinki-Di

           couldnt find it

Mad Max in Mad Max 2 turned him onto the idea

                                                    nourishment to get him through his old age

   he did say females were smarter

1349,  Saturday,  20  5. 23

1616,  Thursday,  19  10. 23

Dinki-Di  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7lMlz3DX_Q

The Pipkins  Gimme Dat Ding  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeIb7Ms4xHc

AI

not Ai  definitely not Ai Shinozakidefinitely not   Obrutha

   he had a bitch about AI a virulent resentment   abjection

“ . . . no algorithm (is) innocent of its designers. It couldn’t be. There was an originating purpose for an algorithm, however distant its past – a reason some human person made it, even if it had evolved and folded in on itself and transformed. A city(society) run by. . . an algorithm had . . . initial interests embedded in it. A city(society) run by an algorithm designed to respond to . . . desires was not innocent of those same  . . . desires, magnified, twisted by machine learning. A city(society) run by an algorithm . . . could suddenly rise up against anyone . . . designated . . .”  

he couldnt have said it better

page287  A Memory Called Empire  Arkady Martine

finally 

        someone saw it as he did 

AIs inherent foible  Achilles Heel

                                   that it is not purenot innocent  a machine cant be unless it is a hand tool  hammer  saw  rake  hoe  a 0 or a 1  compounded tools  pliers  pinchers  hedge shears 

                                                                                       lights go out  theyll still work

when the Lights Go Out 

will libraries have remained

paper texts remained

human curiosity remained

creativity remained 

who will be carrying the fire

   he thought out loud a lot LOUDLY

1634,  day-between-2-Ts,  18  10. 23

1239,  Thursday,  19  10. 23

Hendrix  Fire  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-2m07d2Neo

https://lithub.com/what-is-it-really-like-inside-a-sensory-deprivation-tank/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lit%20Hub%20Daily:%20October%2019%2C%202023&utm_term=lithub_master_list

they didntwhoever they were didnt have to bait him

                                                       didnt have to tempt him   tempt him to turn a blind eye 

thats why he had eyes 

                           two  fuckin   eyes

they planted succulents in a red True Temper wheelbarrow

don put pies on a windowsill to cool

                                     think he couldnt smellcouldnt see how wonderful they were

Mrs Garzino wasnt second to a single aspiringmother in the neighbourhood he watched his mother elbow to elbow with her learning how to make a lemon meringue pie for his birthday cake

it wasnt until they moved from the old neighbourhood that he had a pie his mother made all by herself he wasnt surecouldnt say that any of his pies werent Mrs Garzinos

she crushed it

he hadnt had another lemon meringue that bested hers until his girlfriend set her mind to it

she crushed it 

               and it was with notable pride that he told her hallie had which did not endear hallie to her  that wasnt his intent a no-brainer   he told her Im just telling you the truth  Never thought Id ever tell you that  I was amazed

lotsa women had tried and were found wanting

not that he didnt appreciate their efforts

the succulents in the wheelbarrow

the tire wasnt flat

like Mrs Garzinos pie on the windowsill

                                          they went with him in broad daylight

they went with him

which is different than taking them

   anyone could see that

1346,  Saturday,  20  5. 23

1202,  Thursday,  19  10. 23

Oh The Larceny  Man on a Mission  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OckkpXgYpvc