Tuesday, April 2, 2013

4244. VERTEBRAE

VERTEBRAE
I've got some to spare walking mountains
and climbing hills amidst all that insipid
lowland rancor these tourists bring : the
guidepacks and metal sticks of walking as
a new-found hobby. Maybe, yes, they'll all fall
or jump. Just last night I saw them munching
saltines and cheese crackers - as if they
were on the tarmac in some stupid rented
lot, looking at antique autos, or paintings
by Maillot and Rubens on a curtained stage.
-
I can't say I like any of this one bit : forty
bucks a day, I've got to guide them each
through the pickles of infested path and
swamp and ridge and gully. Nothing like
this they've ever seen before, and each
of them pays me their forty bucks with a
massive Minnesota grin - to thank the man
for guiding us, to say that 'we appreciate so
much all you've done for us.' Yeah, I guess.
Let it go at that. Strange creature
got your hat?

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