Memory XXIV
wheeeeee
cries that man
he cries
on the sidewalk
pigeons putting around and around
feather stench
these old buildings fly up and up and up
what’s that?
a glimmer of sun?
nah, that’s just a dirty old street lamp
it’s on by day
off by night
the wicked old man has rabies
or dysentery
or leprosy
whatever he has, people stay away
a little girl points
he tugs on his whiskers
blinks
she cries and grabs her mommy’s leg
the wicked old man speaks
he says “harumph tubbly tubbly”
no one understands
no one is close enough to hear
he has one dirty shoe
the sole is missing
he fills his shoe with newspaper clippings
sometimes he reads his sole
today his sole says this:
DOWNTOWN CONSUMED IN FIERY INFERNO
he is downtown, downtown is still here
he rips his sole to pieces
he puts the pieces in his mouth
he chews and chews and chews like a wasp
he swallows
he lies down on the curb
he goes to sleep
he has one dream
this is how his one dream goes:
the glitterbug doorway glashes into view and the know which is alternately a duck’s bill and a pink and yellow baseball bat hums as he draws near and his mother’s winking at him and he’s been a bad boy and she has that rolling pin in her hand and her gingham apron on her waist and the sea is blue gingham and he is astride the velveteen ship which plows through the glistening sand and with a siren shriek he tumbles down and down and down and bounces from the bed of nails and three is a clock with purple numbers and cherry-red-painted hands and the hands curl at him as though he’s been naughty and he is tied to a telephone booth that rings and rings and that dear woman sings in the distance and weeping tears wrap around him with their snaky curves and he shuffles his tap shoes on the ground tapping feebly with his hammer on the scattershot roof and a scrawny old cat yawns there arching her back and in a sudden burst of fury he hurls the hammer at the feline and tumbles head over head up up and up into…
***
I don’t even know. :)