Greyhound shankers

heading out on a Greyhound
winging out of San Jose to parts known  
                                                                  unknown to yous

returning March25th   
mebbe March26th  we play again
                                                                    you miss me 
                                                                    Ill miss you

2117,  Twosday,  17  3. 15

Nitwit

           The Star of Bethlehem

Ahem

and how many times in his life did he ahem anything  how many

too rare to know

he couldnt be such a lummox not to know  geographically  the high plains of California werent Palestine or the Levant

--   Are you shitting me  The Star of Bethlehem        

Bethlehem

--   Wha  Its brilliant

Ive never seen a star so stark and brilliant in my life

I mean  have you

--   I see it

nearly every evening

Its not a star

--   Bullshit

If its not a star what is it

What could possibly be manmade  and as celestial    as that

--   Well  You tryin to turn the can of worms upside down slap its bottom and empty its content on the table

Really

Hmm

Lets grab the two fattest worms first

Manmade

God

and the second  celestial

Either could well be redundant of the other

I know for a fact

that light is a lamp

We got dark skies here  darker than you experience in Chicago or LA

Dont know how either of those became the poles of your life

nor do I care

but the skies out here at night scarcely discriminate a horizon

That light is emanating from an unseen ridge

 

I havent got close enough to determine its source or structure  though to be sure  I cant say Ive ever laid eyes on anything to rival it

but thats a steadfast companion  night after night

when Im out here having a whisky a cigar

having a muse

--   For a fact  you know

--   For a fact  utterly founded

You could have built the Tower of Babel on it and it would never have come down

Even God couldnt have torn it down

 

--   Look at you citing celestial

--   Whaddafuck  celestial

Who or what is your religious influence

Ask me about celestial and the best youll get from me is tea

--   Tea

--   Apologeez  An inhouse joke really

 

I suppose if Id muttered Tevana I could have raised your hi-brow eyebrows

Christ  You seem so out of touch

--   You cant say that

Im here

--   I can say that

Youre here because I bought your ticket

--   Ah  I suppose you can

--   Thank you  And youre welcome

When did you start forgetting your thank yous

Chicago
LA

Seems to me you were always real quick with them when you were younger
Younger

Before you came into whatever it is that youre into now
Certainly brighter than that
--   You can stop being a big brother anytime you want
Hear me

--   Oh  I stopped being a big brother when I left home  went out on my own

 

Family 

Ive learned theyre just people

Unfortunately far too many people allow Family influence in their lives
Id say Familys got enough of its own concerns to look after  than to be peeking around after mine

Im not playing big brother

Im stating fact

Youre rude

You werent always rude

Being absent  Id like you to fill in the blanks  the time slots  the progressions  that enabled your entitlement  the  what I see  blatantly rude ungratefulness

When did you become so   expectant

--   I didnt come here for this 

                                  

--   I didnt have you come here for this  Though when I recognise an elephant in the room I dont waste time calling it out or affect imagining a reason why its there

I dont make excuses for anyone

I let them either explain
or make an excuse for themselves

It is a fair transaction

--   That youre sanctimonious
 

--   And were back to religion

Celestial

                Whenever youre ready Ill be interested in listening

But  the light 
I have my own take on it

Never did see it as a star

As I said  a lamp    but I prefer imagining it
a lantern

Held obliquely  in the rigid hand of the Hermit


And our fascination with it is the same that attracts bugs to a fire and their destruction
Their  unenviable  demise

--   I think

Youre not kidding

--   No

--   The Hermit  Isnt he a demigod or something within a religious Nature  or Order

--   Tarot  A figure of the Major Arcana

--   Tarot

--   Yes

--   Gypsy tarot
Like soothsayers and fortune tellers

--   Wouldnt say its relegated to only freak shows and carnivals
State Fairs beachside communities or hippie enclaves

--   Where else who else

--   Youre a bright boy

You may also recall  from some forgotten portion of your liberal education  the Hermit regards solitude
fashioned after Diogenes  the Greek ascetic who is said to have ventured forth  bearing a lantern in hand  in search for an honest man

Searching for the truth

Stripping away those diversions hiding it




Ah  you may suppose I do have religion

My religion is Imagination 

       

1300,  Sunday,  15  3. 15
1328,  St. Paddy’s Day,  Twosday,  17  3. 15

Fadder -- (twaw of twaw)

* * * 

while sitting in the livingroom conversing he leaned back on occasion in the straightback chair  ever so slightly rubbing his shoulder  subtly grimaced  suggesting  it a minor annoyance or discomfort 

as he exited the bathroom with the swollen bladder in hand 
the biggest one at the door stood

wary 
Ged fer hem  he thought  heed be wary too
 

Ma shouders actin op  Was better it aganst da wall den my hed  eh

Hmm    
           unconvinced

he thought  Fack em hard  Was never much a liar  as he continued towards the threshold now untwisting the bottle cap

the standing one took the first gout in the face from the bottle of holy toilet as he stepped to meet him  he pivoted right from the horrific scream and doused the second before he could stand
horrific screams in stereo

it was a blessing to have two ears

their heads were consumed with a violent red rash  it peeling their scalps back  seething with something more nebulous than steam and less than smoke
their eyelids retracted
eyes  black like serpents 
syphilitic boils gagged out of their twisted purplish flesh   glycerine bubbles ulcerated

the mooks  as he hoped  sat unmoved

Shocky  slurred in his thought behind his strides towards the two whose hands still bothered with their ruined faces

he slammed a sharpened spike deftly between the big beasts ribs  which were no match to protect his heart
he Gobbed at the air   
                                  a strange sound 
he went ferociously at the second biggie  its bright synapses trying to kick in to avert its killing 
                                brains like dreams 
a meal ticket was a meal ticket

its hand came up  talons extended
the raw spike slammed through its center  invigorated enormously by Life  pinning it to his chest and his heart beneath 
 

he snatched up the coffee table off the bare wood floor  it speckled by bloodied invective Rorschachs
and used its broad edge lip as a bludgeon to their skulls against the wall
their skulls against the floor

FACK! 
   

            that must have been his voice

the choreography  the dance  was nearly complete

he witnessed the rest as if an automaton had stepped in for him
creepy  jerky  head motions
hands  he didnt recognise as his own for the blood and gore

in one steady ironhand a straight razor

the mooks were up 
they had nowhere to go

the other hand snapped and snapped and snapped until it closed on a mop of hair
the face under it was distended  gaping eyes  it gullet open and screaming   silently
maybe it wasnt silent
Namatter 
he didnt hear anything 
then a heavy puff breath prickled with aerated blood blew into his face
their hands going to its ruined  sliced  throat

the other mook collapsed numbly in the corner
a different automaton governed his body 
negative panic  surprisingly  had a beatific expression
there was no need to grasp his scalp 
he put a crooked index finger to his docile chin  tilted his head back gently
he took his finger away 
his head remained back
his jugular throbbed 
a bluish blush at the skin 
a mole  a beauty mark sat quietly reverently atop the vein
X marks the spot
he slashed it
it gaped  surprised for a moment  looking at him 
a severed tube
                         it gave him respite to step back  and away
then it nearly seemed as if his blood didnt want to be left alone

it leapt at him

leapt out of this pale china doll with staring glass eyes

 

he opened the apartment windows

from the closet beside the front door he took out several filled gas canisters
doused the bodies  letting them stand open when he set them down

he stripped naked in the middle of the room

left his bloody clothes on the floor

he took a canister into the bedroom 
set it on the bed
took a plastic bag of clothes into the bathroom then returned  doused the bed and left it emptying itself on the mattress
   

he took a shower  not bothering to pull the curtain around the ring to keep the water from the floor 
for once the water was hot when he wanted it hot

bathed  he dressed in the clothes from the bag

the apartments wooden floor was old and it sucked up the gas like mothers milk

the fumes smarted his eyes

the stairs would be happy with him
hed spring over most of them

he struck one match and tossed it on the bed

he struck a second match and tossed it on the floor between the two mangled vampires

sometime  as he bound down the stairs
his hearing returned

  

behind him it sounded like popcorn popping and gunshots

2105,  Thursday,  12  3. 15
2350,  Saturday,  14  3. 15