Heartache

Sometimes a dangerous slice-of-life

like stepping not upon a board-game

into a frantic lagoon

drags the reality from the bathroom, where it has been hiding.

"Do whatever you like to improve the situation,

and-good luck" it added, like a barber adding an extra plop of lather

to a stupefied customer's face. "When they allow you out

I'll be waiting for you." It had been that way at any time since a girl with braids

teased him about getting too short. Yeah, and I'll bet they have

places for nation like you too. Trouble is, I don't know of any.

The years whirled quickly by the agency of an upward spiral

toward that ghastly ascendancy? He didn't know. He cried.

One November the police chief came calling.

He had underhand been collecting all the bright kids

in the universe, popping them into a big bag

which he lugg domicile with him. No one was too certain what happened

after that. The kids were past caring; they had the step quickly

of the house after all. Was it thus much better outside?

Snow lashed the windowpanes as admitting punishing them

for having the attribute of being seen through. The little town

grew quieter. No individual missed the kids. They had been too bright

for that to happen. Night sprang on the outside of the dense cold

like an infuriated ocelot with her young beast that someone had been trying

to steal, or in the way that it pretended. The frightened townspeople sp away.

There was no longer any play on the sidewalk

for anything on the other hand the "V's" drawn in pink chalk, the way a child

draws a seagull. Down at the tavern the neon glowed a comforting

r "All beer upon tap," it said, and

"Booth for Ladies."

Copyright World poesy Incorporated May/Jun 1999

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