questionmark spine

Questionmark spine

blue bag

green plaid shirt

khaki pants

--   Excuse me

frightened                                                                                                                                              --   No  I . . I done nothing                                                                                                                      his right eye was swollen  shot through with blood  a scab across the bridge of his nose   

his left eye rheumy

--   Excuse me

--   No  I  .. no  . no

--   No you . . you dropped this . . .

--   I gots nothing  --  he clutched his blue bag raised it up before him  --  to drop

--   Excuse me  no  you dropped it  I saw you  As I crossed the street . . .

--   No it aint mine  Please I dont want no trouble  I got trouble I got no room for . . .

he held it out to him  folded  between his fingers  folded paper money  itd been creased  thin   

but some bills  filthy greasy bills

--   This is yours  You dropped it

his left eye went tense and it ran through his brain  and pockets  and pulled them inside out  cast out small stones and grit from the dry creek bed the crumble of dried brown leaves  bits and tatters of paper he scribbled with a pencil stub long ago  not remembering what he wrote if to someone to himself some last will and testament naming his name what to do with his body when they found it  His name whats his name he hadnt been called his name in a long time  Who cares

ah  that money  the old lady gave me  took pity on me  A bite to eat  Some coffee  Its not much just a little to help you

Why would you help me

You need help

I do I do need help

his eye narrowed  cropped the young man in its aperture  focused it

--   I remember I do Its mine

--   Yes  Yours

--   Thank you very much

--   Youre welcome

--   Yes thank you

he smiled

--   Youre welcome  Whats your name

--   My name  Funny you should ask  I was just thinking what my name was  My names my fathers name  Years ago fathers gave their first born son their names  Years ago  My name is Richard

--   Richard  Fine  Youre welcome Richard  My names Robert  My fathers name too

he extended his hand

Richard  Be well

Richard awkwardly extended his hand  suddenly terribly conscious of how dirty it was

the young man quickly took his hand in his and shook it

when was the last time someone touched him with affection

--   Thank you Robert  I had forgotten I had money

--   Not me  I cant keep money in my pockets for my life  It just finds its way out

he smiled

Dont spend it all in one place

--   No  Ill try not to

he watched Robert turn and walk away

he watched him walk until he took a corner some blocks down the street

he looked in his hand at the money

A bite to eat  Some coffee

and he remembered the bits and pieces of scrounged paper  the pencil stub  the bits and pieces like grimy lint  hed scattered them absently into a sewage drain when he found them

what was on them

he worked the bills into his front pocket as he walked again  unaware he reversed his direction

the plastic blue bag hanging in his hand swung slightly

1803,  Sunday,  27  7. 14

1456,  Wednesday,  30  7. 14

Sticks

you call em legs

theyre sticks

the flops on her feet were bigger than her thighs or calves

the XL Mens dull washedout blue jean workshirt  open  over the top of her knee-length 

cream and coloured-floral muumuu didnt help matters

she reminded him of a series of reasons why he preferred not attending doctors offices 

ERs or hospitals

she was a terrible offset to the fatty populace wading around outside her hiding door as 
sooner or later those without would be seeking ministrations within

                                                                                                                as she was now

for reasons unknown to him and would remain unknown  --  others could check her 

Facebook  --   and would probably be as frustrated as she was with the medical

footdragging

be here On Time

and Wait 

                                                                                                                                             

--   The doctor will see you now

and Wait in an interior antechamber unseen from outside

                                                                

--   The doctor will see you now

See  the active verb

See  if hell sit down long enough to hear what it is you have to say

look you in the face

not distracted  looking at the floor

the bedside manner of a hooker

--   I love you long time til you dead                                                                                                              

cuz theres always another john waiting in the next room
if you can get that first mornings appointment you wont have to worry sloppy-seconds
those slopped up and squeezed out of a janitors mophead
the graywater that made the Utility Rooms deep-sink retch as it tried desperately to 
pinch its nose shut
--   What the hell is that
 

what the hell it was  was people not really caring all that much for themselves

running roughshod through their lives

until their untied shoestrings or flopping Velcro-straps catch

and theyre dropped hard on their faces

then fingering the ground or the askew crack-in-the-sidewalk

something  anything  other than themselves

for their predicament

their rote excuses echoing

excuses made rote by the assemblies of irresponsible corporations whose bottomline decisions 

are ruled by morally bankrupt individuals

those coddled Business/Finance degree selfish-types

--   I want In  I want Out  and I want it in the shortest time possible

decisions based on premise no higher a vault than a snake could crawl over                

No Offense intended the snake
its been crawling on its belly longer than man- and woman-things have climbed 
frantically into trees or run away to escape its Natural delineations and deliberations
  

or Societies impoverished and impossible Ideals

propped up on the spiny backs of moneymaking snakeoil schemes

                                                                                                         

No Offense intended the snake
 

No

there would be no offense intended

none taken

the snake

wasnt the idiot

it was fine wound in the staff or Rod of Asclepius

from there it watched us

humored

enjoying  Theres nothing better than good oldfashioned American assbackwardness   

it laughed between its split tongue

                                                        --   Assholes   the call was blown back in 1800s

and as America does

it doesnt admit its mistakes

it dismissed the difference

and fell hard for the fraud  the caduceus

it belonged to Hermes  quick and cunning  God of Trade and Thieves and Travelers

His caduceus

if you look

if you pay any attention

it bears two snakes climbing a winged staff

it hissed

the Rod of Asclepius

bears a single snake

according to Greek mythology

Asclepius is the God of healing

a psychopomp  Hermes  escorted souls to the afterlife                                                                                                                  

Asclepius supplicants

you would call them His patients

sought Him to be healed

on the floors of His temples crawled the Asclepiusian snakes  freely  among the sufferers

no cowardly tree climbing or fleeing on frieze  four or eight-legged motion creatures

none

evidently  once you were courageous man- and woman-things

the ritual purifications were followed by offerings or sacrifices to Asclepius   and get this

the snake licked its chops

                                      According to their Means

theres a patently unAmerican concept

                                                                       

often supplicants had to spent a night in the temple  in its holiest place  called the abaton

then in the morning they shared their dreams or visions with a priest

you might call them your doctors

who helped interpret and prescribe therapies according to their visions

it sighed

gasp  pant  or scratch your asses for all I care

then it slithered down the staff and let itself out

Done with the Show

over its undulating back it called out

--   It seems your ancients were far more adept and in tune with their senses and bodies

then youll ever be                                                                                                            

0915,  Tuesday,  29 7. 14

1318,  Wednesday,  30  7. 14