Tuesday, October 14, 2014

6003. I WANT TO BE MULLIGAN

I WANT TO BE MULLIGAN
And what a character this comes to be : walking like
a bowling ball down Forsythe, he sees me and starts
running. Blues-man-jazz-bo nothing. 'To sit in this
crummy bar forever', that's his motto.
-
He plays a sinful tap, he sings a tune, things about
women and Marys and men. He taps one foot in
alternate rhythm while the other scats a double-time
that no one's ever heard before. What do you get?
-
Kids the age of yesterday, showing up to hear; 
needles in their faces and needles in their ears.
'I pierced once alone my backside with your gentlemanly 
ways, and then the piercing got infected and there
wasn't a doctor to be found so my mother had
to pay for the airlift to that old hospital in
Burundi  -  you know, I was working then in 
the Peace Corps remember  -  and when they cut
the boil the stuff that came out, they said, was
weirder than jungle death. never again for me!'
-
And even if one is lucky to survive, one still is
surviving  -  make something of it please, or better
yet just go away. 'To sit in this crummy bar forever',
that's his motto.

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