the lady and the cowpoke - a fragment

you ride the range you man so strange would you like an apple or an o-range? don't pick up that cat, it's got the mange she was a good old kitty cat and did her duties with eclat but life has wrestled her to the mat now there is no more this in her that i'm glad you dropped by look at the sky my oh my how time does fly are you sure you don't want some tea? the gypsy made it especially for me despite its curious pungency it really contains no mystery poor man, you look pale let me tell you a tale once there were three princesses with scarlet, gold and sable tresses who always wore white satin dresses and by a witch were given three guesses as to which kingdoms they would rule after they had finished school and which emperors were the biggest fools in which to sink their claws so cruel a crimson cloud across the sky drew the golden princess's eye and with a sad and mournful sigh she sat on a rock and began to cry o sister, cried the scarlet maid what has made you so afraid? have all our secrets been betrayed? and all our rescuers waylaid? ....... the cowpoke listened to the lady's tale and smiled and nodded without fail out in the distance he heard a wail a leaf flew past the window -- next a gale? the conversation reached another stage the parrot looks so unhappy in his cage let's turn the page would you like to blow some gage?

song of the damned number 21

i am just a lonely moocher with no present past or future and the windows watch me well on the rainy street to hell and my brain begins to hum for a taste of opium and its incandescent streams of fervid fleeting dreams i would sell my ragged soul for the tenth part of a bowl there's nowhere that i wouldn't slink for just one more - one more drink all you mandarins and missionaries in your mansions museums and libraries will you know a brighter final fate than the stranger dragging past your gate?

i was the one

i was the one i was there i walked the dog i bounced the ball i fed the cat i sang the song i was there i saw it all happen when it was over they came and asked me because i was the one i spun the chamber i calmed the crowd i sharpened the stake i pointed at the bird and the dog ran down the street i walked up the stairs i rang the bell i sold the encyclopedia i sat on the front porch lily mae came out and offered me a glass of lemonade i accepted politely and looked out at the street the crowd was gone the dog ran under the light i drank the lemonade and gave the glass back to lily mae who waited patiently while mrs jones looked out the window but i was not worthy even though i was the one i howled at the moon i grew the fangs i defied the mob i wept in despair i walked the dog i bounced the ball i mixed the mint julep i begged for forgiveness all these things happened in a single night a night that never ended i was there i was the one

in the dark

lift a glass and raise a cheer to the stuffy bankers of yesteryear the snooty dowagers, the butlers stiff the girls named josie, and the guys named cliff the cop on the beat, with his face so red, the bookie with his hat tipped just right on his head the cabbies, the waiters, the hat check girls the saucy debutantes tossing their curls the windbag senator, the girl reporter commissioner johnson and mayor mcwhorter newsboys, shoe shine boys, cracking wise all right - break it up, you guys the playboy spending grandfather's dough chester - you should invest in our show i'll get back to you on that, sweetheart aw come on - all i need is a start abbie the tailor - his cobbler pal moe watch through their windows - the whole city on the go you call that a suit - you call that a hat? i can do you much better than that the sky's the limit - it's looking good if they could see me in the old neighborhood standing on the corner with benny the dip just before he gives me a tip on the fifth horse in the seventh race how did i ever come to this place? trying to get the big story? trying to cover myself with glory? don't send me again to the debutantes dance please, muggsy, won't you give me a chance this story is just about to get hotter and i can blow it right out of the water i know the story is pretty tangled but hey - i got an angle the cops are doing it by the book but i think i see something they overlooked there's never been a story like this before with horror you'll gasp, with laughter you'll roar your mouth will fly open, with delight you will squeal when it all comes together in the last reel

jewelry

no doubt, gerald, you will say that the devil made you do it no, aunt , the devil didn't make me do it nor did i succumb to a sudden impulse or ungovernable passion - i did not need the money and was not playing a prank or being initiated into a secret society i was not making a statement about the modern world or being lured to my doom by an evil, scheming woman i had no plans to travel to china or tahiti no, i stole your jewelry for one reason only - because i am totally, irredeemably corrupt - outside on park avenue and 89th street the wind tested the leaves of a london plane tree

page from a notebook

0. the essence of the thing is the thing itself. 1. sense escapes. the thing is left behind. 2. the former expansion of the essence surrounds the thing. 3. the expanded essence is the word. 4. a collision of expanded essences is an affair. 5. affairs are remembered. 6. what is remembered is an affair. 7. the escaped essence leaves the expansion behind, guarding the thing. 8. the thing growls menacingly at the expansion. 9. the escaped essence flies away, laughing. 10. laughter is an affair whose essence has escaped. 11. a thing whose essence has attempted to escape is a laughing matter. 12. but the essence of the thing, which is the thing itself, is no laughing matter. 13. an affair that is no laughing matter is a tough crowd. 14. the essence of the thing is a tough crowd. 15. a crowd with an escaped essence is tough.

reunion in the rain

when you're lost in the rain in a back road in tennessee on christmas eve in nineteen forty-three and you see a light in the trees just up ahead and you wonder if you really wouldn't be better off dead and you push through the broken general store screen door the first thing you see is a leg sticking out on the floor and pappy looks up with a smile in his whiskers white and asks if it ain't just been one hell of a night this young lady here came at me with a knife it was all i could do to snuff out her miserable life excuse me sir while i drag her carcass outdoors as soon as i do my time is entirely yours you know you were here before in another life on the run with sheriff john brown's brand new young wife yes you escaped that time - escaped too well did you really think they forgot you down in hell? your eyes adjust to the smoky dismal scene lit by a single lamp of kerosene there's a knife on the counter, a bible and a magazine you take a step closer - and can't hold back a scream it's her on the cover - so dead yet so alive you left her in laredo in nineteen and thirty-five and her face you've carried since in your shrinking soul like an endlessly burning diamond - or piece of coal the magazine falls from your hand to the sawdust floor a sudden wind blows through the opening door it's over now - you know you're finally beat you hear pappy say, jeff, i've got someone here i'd like you to meet...