Sunday, November 5, 2017

10,141. FULL-BORE ASSAULT ON NOW

FULL-BORE 
ASSAULT ON NOW
Hold my arms : lift my head : this
may seem fatal : but I'm not dead.
Yet. And yet, I may well be. I see
something at that noose hanging
from the tree, and for all I know 
that form is me. I'd always figured 
this : once you're dead though, you 
no longer see : Reality. Such a 
changeable function for a brittle 
equation, and what symbol is 
made for that : I wonder? I'm
actually right here, outside the
old Custom's House by the 
waterfront quay. Why am I 
on the side of this old marble
building in the dark? Actually :
I was taking a pee : you've 
certainly put an end to that.
-
I not such a challenging guy : And
just twenty minutes before this I'd
been up at the old Commons, at City
Hall Park, by the hanging tree. That was
young Nathan Hale going by in chains 
on the prison wagon. They didn't hang 
him here : instead they were going 
somewhere farther up north, where the 
lanes meet the water and the higher 
ground. Rocks. Even though this is 
the usual hanging spot. Then, even I
had to flee : those God-damn Redcoats
leave nothing to the imagination : and
they've burned our inn down twice now,
by Maiden Lane.
-
So, here's where you found me : I have
a knife in my boot, and this dagger : 
but it's all I've got left, and if they 
find me I'm cooked. Really bereft. 
I hope this rebellion ends soon.




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