20081024

48: Side With The Seeds

On his shoes
The dirt from three states
Caked thick
No wind at his back
No wind on his face
No wind
Nothing to rush and fill the voids between palm and thigh

Up above
Empty sky
Cruel blue and hard light
Moisture sucked from every pore
No wind to cool his brow
No wind
No hope for clouds
and shade
and rain

In his pocket
Lousy talismans
Bent cigarette, six keys around a circle
Kadrey's estate
He holds out the keys
His fist a porcupine
There is no wind to make them chime
Nothing
No wind
To carry the sounds growing in his chest

He smells the keys
Gives them new names in the absence of doors
He presses into the body of the cigarette
Rolls it back and forth
Paper disintegrates
Dry leaves fall through his fingers
Like sand
Like ash
No wind to alter their trajectory
No ladder to bring him the fragrance of tobacco
The leaves gather on his shoes
He is buried






4 comments:

Tom Leininger said...

OK, not really sure what think because there is not much and the sidebar does not really go with the content.

What are you trying to accomplish? That is the question that I keep going back to.

The periodic table is interesting, but does not go, and when I am confused or uninterested, I will go looking for a youtube video. Point me, do not let me search....

Anonymous said...

Confusion is OK. Boredom might be to. Wander if you have to. That would be in the spirit of the piece. But I'm not trying to pull a Houdini or anything. So here's a bit more info: this is the story of two guys on a road trip, and 46 through 50 deal with the big event from chapter 45. We'll get there by Wednesday.

I'm losing the Wikipedia widget, it's too much. The YouTube one will start making more sense as the chapters and the references start piling up. I'm conflicted about the periodic table myself. Let me know if you still feel the same way in 10 chapters.

Heather said...

Wow, I love this. This fits in very nicely with the first two. It seems a very logical progression for me. I just read your explanation in your comment and actually would have preferred not to know the story, but to have to try to figure it out. I already sensed the spirit of a journey, or at least a wanderer. I'd really like to write a song to this, would you mind? I hope you write more poetry. People say it's a dead form, but I still like it-closer to music.

Anonymous said...

love this format! sometimes i want to read passages by milan kundera's with this type of rhythm. you did something interesting here.