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- Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:32:00 -06
- Sender: New Ways of Thinking List <FNORD-L@UBVM.BITNET>
- From: Dana Rollins <ROLLIDE@AUDUCADM.DUC.AUBURN.EDU>
- Subject: Today's Special: Bukowski, OJ
- Lines: 148
-
- >Subject: Today's Special: Bukowski, OJ and Hash Browns
- > (courtesy of one-time Fnord terrorist, Whiplash)
-
-
- beauti-ful
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
- one poet used to take
- this stringy-haired blonde around
- with him to poetry readings
- and
- she'd sit out in the audience
- and now and then
- just as he concluded a
- poem
- the blonde would
- breathlessly say:
- "beauti-ful..."
-
- it made him look good
- and I was a little jealous
- of it
- myself:
- nobody had ever said that
- about
- one of my poems
-
- and each time
- after she said,
- "beauti-ful..."
- it made them
- applaud.
-
- he had her planted at
- all his readings
- this poet who was so good
- with the ladies
- he had a
- gentle smile and
- these artistic
- dangling
- hands
- and he dangled
- very well
- elsewhere
- it was
- told.
-
- I attended these readings
- because I was living with a
- sex-pot who *insisted* upon
- going to them
- and since our affair was
- still fresh and
- new
- I made certain horrible
- sacrifices
-
- and *he* was reading
- everywhere
- in every little pitiful
- hand-out
- poetry hole in L.A.
- and nearby
- parts.
-
- this one night
- he had a new girl planted
- in the audience
- a tinted redhead
- wearing fisherman's boots
- and a cowboy hat
- with a two-and-one-half foot
- red feather
- but she was as good as the
- other:
- at certain times
- after certain poems
- she too would utter the
- word:
- "beauti-ful!"
-
- and the applause would
- follow...
-
- an hour later he was still
- tirelessly going
- on, and then he finished
- one
- and his new plant said it
- again:
- "beauti-ful..."
-
- and then it came
- from the rear
- from one of the back
- seats:
- "No, it wasn't, it was a
- piece of shit!"
-
- it was the stringy-blonde
- standing up on
- one of the seats
- holding her paper cup
- full of
- Thunderbird
-
- and then the applause came
- it came and it
- rose and it
- rumbled
- it was perfect endearing
- and unashamed
-
- *he* had never heard applause
- like
- that...
-
- ^^^
-
- and after that night
- maybe a week later
- I was alone
- sitting up against the
- headboard of the bed
- the sex-pot was out
- to a reading or
- somewhere
- and I was into another
- beer
- going through one of
- those
- throwaway tabloids
- when I came across this
- short notice
- that a certain poet
- had left for
- New York City
- to seek his fame and
- fortune
- there.
-
- a beauti-ful city for a
- beauti-ful guy, I thought,
- bundling the tabloid
- and dumping a 3 pointer into
- the far-off
- basket...
-