tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328188232011-08-11T01:10:58.666-07:00Christopherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293084438513598251noreply@blogger.comBlogger51100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32818823.post-14120822137065545482010-01-16T06:35:00.000-08:002010-01-16T06:38:11.986-08:00DONATE TO <a href="http://www.redcross.org">THE RED CROSS</a> GENEROUSLY TO HELP THE SURVIVORS OF HAITI'S TURMOIL.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/32818823-1412082213706554548?l=americanmohawk.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Christopherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00293084438513598251noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32818823.post-17350603948797800352010-01-16T06:19:00.000-08:002010-01-16T06:28:36.380-08:00<div style="margin:1ex"><br /><div bgcolor="#ffffff" vlink="blue" link="blue"><br /><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_1"><b>Page 1</b></a></font></td></tr></table><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:287;left:135">American Mohawk </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:308;left:135">Completed 5/14/2003 6:43:34 AM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:328;left:135">©2003 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:349;left:135">By Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:390;left:135">Thank you for stumbling onto my chapbook. This book is about the spirit of America and </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:411;left:135">my strides to find my way in an increasingly difficult period in American History. We are </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:432;left:135">only now beginning to realize the true force of the Internet and all of it&#39;s phases. This is </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:453;left:135">my book, and it is titled, American Mowhawk. I am part Mohawk Indian. My great </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:473;left:135">grandparents were from Ontario Canada and through migration and movement, my</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:494;left:135">Mother and Father collided as Americans. I have strains of 16 different cultures in me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:515;left:135">and they are too hard to keep track of, so I will simply call myself American. These are</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:535;left:135">my struggles with understanding life. I began writing them in 1995. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:577;left:135">Enjoy your reading.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:619;left:135">Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:639;left:135">All Works (c)2003 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:660;left:135">Noisecontrol Publishing</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" color="#993700" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times;color:#993700"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:701;left:586">posted by Christopher at <b><font color="#cb6637" face="Times"><a href="http://www.americanmohawk.blogspot.com/2003_04_01_americanmohawk_archive.html#93520786" target="_blank">5:03 AM</a></font></b></div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:1363;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_2"><b>Page 2</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="5" face="Times"><span style="font-size:38px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:1917;left:263">The World Before Latin</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:1958;left:367">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:18px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:1980;left:336">First Child Of The Digital Age</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:2551;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_3"><b>Page 3</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:2664;left:424">Chapter 1 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:2685;left:401">The Maple Tree </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3739;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_4"><b>Page 4</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:11px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3850;left:108">Seeds</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3850;left:432">Maple</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3866;left:162">Pirouette, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3866;left:378">By Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3882;left:162">Spiral To The Ground, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3898;left:162">I Will Spin With You, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3914;left:162">And Get Dizzy, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3945;left:108">Leaves </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3961;left:162">Purple, Red,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3977;left:162">Green And Orange,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:3993;left:162">When Falling,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4009;left:162">In Fall, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4040;left:108">Stems</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4056;left:162">Long Non-Polycarbon, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4072;left:162">Hard Shelled Veins, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4088;left:162">Cellulose Composes You, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4104;left:162">You Distribute,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4120;left:162">You Share Your, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4135;left:162">Nutrition, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4167;left:108">Branches </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4183;left:162">You Were Stems Once,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4199;left:162">Now You Hold Many Leaves,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4215;left:162">And Weave Toward The Sun,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4231;left:162">Creating Nature’s Three Dimensional Maze,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4246;left:162">For The Ants, The Bees, The Mosquitoes And Termites,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4262;left:162">Your Larger Folk Were Friends To My Gripping Palms,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4294;left:108">Trunk</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4310;left:162">Orange-Brown And Grey,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4326;left:162">The Cracks Line Your Weathered Skin, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4341;left:162">My Feet Would Press Against The Bark,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4357;left:162">Sneaker-Prints On Dry, Hard Wood. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4373;left:162">You Grew Quickly, I Remember Your Youth, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4389;left:162">I Grew Up With You. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4436;left:108">Now That I Am Older,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4468;left:108">Cars, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4484;left:108">Evening Lamps, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4500;left:108">Sweepers,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4516;left:108">Concrete Streets,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4547;left:108">Cement Walkways, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4563;left:108">Telephone And Telegraph Poles,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4579;left:108">Electrical Cables,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4595;left:108">Noise.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4627;left:108">These Are The Things That I Need.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4674;left:108">We Cut You, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4674;left:378">Provide You With Grey-Green Mold </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4690;left:108">Pull Off Your Leaves,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4690;left:378">Paste Some Black Goo,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4706;left:108">Snap Your Branches, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4706;left:378">On Your Wounds, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4722;left:108">Thicken Your Water With Toxin, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4722;left:378">Feast On Your Sap, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4753;left:108">I can see where you would have grown, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4769;left:108">I can see,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4785;left:108">where you would have grown.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:4927;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_5"><b>Page 5</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5039;left:108">Black Maple</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5056;left:108">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5095;left:108">You look a bit sinister in this season, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5113;left:108">Like something wicked,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5131;left:108">The end of September is here, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5148;left:108">And the drips from the sky,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5166;left:108">Are popping down,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5184;left:108">One by one, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5201;left:108">Through your leaves,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5219;left:108">Into my short hair. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5254;left:108">I haven’t had to step back away, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5272;left:108">To see your figure planted, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5289;left:108">While your smallest parts, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5307;left:108">Are still alive, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5325;left:108">The veins like al dente’</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5342;left:108">Spaghetti strings, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5360;left:108">Draped with black-purple nylon,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5378;left:108">Dragged to earth by fluid gravity.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5413;left:108">There’s a black pool underneath,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5431;left:108">Where your juices collect, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5448;left:108">Formed by a broken square, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5466;left:108">Of cracked sidewalk, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5483;left:108">And I’m watching your life,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5501;left:108">Fall away in the darkness, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5519;left:108">With my cigarette, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5536;left:108">Smoking wet tobacco. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5572;left:108">Your limbs, at my usual angle,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5589;left:108">Are stretched up,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5607;left:108">Like the arms of an addicted supermodel, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5625;left:108">Breastless,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5642;left:108">Waiting for the needle of October, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5660;left:108">To make your oily feathers,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5677;left:108">Slick to orange, and shiny red,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5695;left:108">And dangle down to the runway concrete.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5730;left:108">Maybe you were a faerie once, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5748;left:108">When I was thirteen, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5766;left:108">And no one was dead yet,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5783;left:108">Waking up with the moon,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5801;left:108">On a simpler evening,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5819;left:108">Watching the hill, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5836;left:108">And protecting the owl,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:5854;left:108">I could still “Who” with. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6115;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_6"><b>Page 6</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6280;left:108">And to whom do I owe this honor, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6297;left:108">To gaze at your hacked off hips, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6315;left:108">That made your older arms, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6333;left:108">For my palms to grip, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6350;left:108">And climb to join the last mosquitos, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6368;left:108">Or march an army of your ants, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6386;left:108">To stop the dive-bombing winged ones, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6403;left:108">In the city in the evening clouds. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6439;left:108">If you had eyes to show in the rain, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6456;left:108">I know now that they would be saphire,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6474;left:108">And spider burning acetate, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6491;left:108">That you’d slip out of your bark, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6509;left:108">And slide across to spend an evening,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6527;left:108">Hanging backward on my stiffened limb,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6544;left:108">In the Waltz of Northern Autumn, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6562;left:108">While I pace, In the droplets, of your life. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6597;left:108">Heaven is the color of pitch, Black Maple </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6615;left:108">And you are truly, a bunch of bats,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6633;left:108">Gathered together in one hole in the air, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6650;left:108">As if frozen by the early winter chill, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6668;left:108">And so many mixtures, of our chemistry,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6685;left:108">Sloshing through your cellular pipes - </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6703;left:108">We will kill you one day.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6721;left:108">One day we will quicken your soul. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6756;left:108">And your flight will be marvelous, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6774;left:108">With a furious flurry of whipping wind, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6791;left:108">The colors of your final summer, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6809;left:108">Will drift the currents of the breathing Globe, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6827;left:108">Washing across blacktop, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6844;left:108">Choking off gutters,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6862;left:108">And sticking to automotive windows. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6897;left:108">And your secrets will sing away with you.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:6915;left:108">When the moss finally finds its way in. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7303;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_7"><b>Page 7</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7416;left:108">Winter Maple</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7437;left:108">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7458;left:108">February 10, 1998 2:15 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7501;left:108">You have no leaves now, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7522;left:108">But it is a warm winter. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7543;left:108">Soon you will have buds, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7564;left:108">growing, sprouting with the sun’s heat. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7607;left:108">Your skin is cold to the touch, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7628;left:108">a bark made of thin brown wood, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7649;left:108">And I stand, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7671;left:108">no longer polluting the air. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7713;left:108">I stand with a friend, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7734;left:108">And I tell her about you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7755;left:108">How I’ve thought about you, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7777;left:108">How I’ve spent hours with you, and the moon. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7819;left:108">You have not faded away, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7840;left:108">since I have made my wish to dance with you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7862;left:108">And the mold, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7883;left:108">maybe it is one of your silly ornaments. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7925;left:108">Can you bring the inside out again, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7947;left:108">so that I can take your seed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7968;left:108">and plant it into an unmowed grass, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:7989;left:108">where it will grow, and make rich saplings?</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8032;left:108">Of course you can, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8053;left:108">You will out exist me easily, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8074;left:108">After all, the back yard is not paved, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8095;left:108">And it is bigger, than all of your minor plot of turf. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8138;left:108">Your infinite growth, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8159;left:108">ensures that, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8180;left:108">No concession will be made, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8202;left:108">to the stone that moves, like a sifting sand, in winter. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8491;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_8"><b>Page 8</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8604;left:108">Cold Maple </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8625;left:108">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8646;left:108">October 15, 1998 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8689;left:108">Now your leaves fall again, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8710;left:108">Rain and Hail spit from Heaven, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8731;left:108">Red-Black leaves turn brown, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8752;left:108">And my feet feel the cold of the earth. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8795;left:108">You are frozen, standing up, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8816;left:108">The water flicks your skin, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8837;left:108">A light brown bark darkens, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8859;left:108">And cracks with age. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8901;left:108">It’s been 3 years, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8922;left:108">Since I started counting,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8943;left:108">And I still weather with you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:8965;left:108">Unable to stop smoking. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9007;left:108">The moonlight glares off one face, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9028;left:108">while your other is blackness, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9050;left:108">and streetlights comfort you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9071;left:108">in the silence of night. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9113;left:108">A junkie wouldn’t have made, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9135;left:108">Three years worth of progress. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9156;left:108">Watching you, as you live naked, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9177;left:108">Clears my optical fibers. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9220;left:108">A future is coming,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9241;left:108">Furiously Rapid, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9262;left:108">Where trees will spring up, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9283;left:108">In Virtual Space. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9326;left:108">I hope I still feel, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9347;left:108">when it happens, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9368;left:108">and that I don’t forget again, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9390;left:108">where we both were grown. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:9679;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_9"><b>Page 9</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="5" face="Times"><span style="font-size:34px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:10240;left:389">Chapter 2 </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:10282;left:384">Delicacies</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:10867;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_10"><b>Page 10</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11022;left:108">246 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11065;left:108">Rectangular Kitchen Appliance,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11086;left:108">There You Sit, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11107;left:108">Each Night I Stay Up Late, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11128;left:108">You Wait For Me, To Push Your Buttons. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11171;left:108">2 Of Your Buttons Don’t Work Anymore, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11192;left:108">The One and Five Keys on Your Soft Face. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11213;left:108">So When I Place My Soup, Macaroni and Cheese, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11235;left:108">Or Mom’s Leftovers, Inside You, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11277;left:108">I press them always, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11298;left:108">Two, Four, Six,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11319;left:108">And Always, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11341;left:108">You Cook My Dinner. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11383;left:108">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:11383;left:421">March 17 5:35 PM </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12055;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_11"><b>Page 11</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12168;left:108">The Sex Life Of Popcorn</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12210;left:108">It’s an entirely oral experience, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12231;left:108">An explosion of butter and salt, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12253;left:108">While I flip it between my lips, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12274;left:108">Orville Reddenbacher knew, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12295;left:108">And he talked about it once, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12316;left:108">The Sex Life Of Popcorn. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12359;left:108">There’s something thermo-nuclear, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12380;left:108">About a shattering kernel, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12401;left:108">In an old metal pot, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12423;left:108">While the television’s on, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12444;left:108">With a big politician’s haircut, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12465;left:108">Flashing into my mind. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12507;left:108">Every girl I’ve slept next to, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12529;left:108">Has popped a few styrofoam movie bites, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12550;left:108">Into her mouth. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12571;left:108">We usually get the oily liquid, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12592;left:108">All over our faces, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12614;left:108">And we can never find any napkins. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12656;left:108">Hey!</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12699;left:108">Maybe this time if I use the microwave, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12720;left:108">I won’t get one of those damn shells, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12741;left:108">Stuck behind my back tooth. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12762;left:108">And have to keep pushing my toungue, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12784;left:108">Against the roof of my mouth, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12805;left:108">Or maybe she’ll set it between my lips. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:12847;left:108">With her soft white fingertips. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13243;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_12"><b>Page 12</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13356;left:108">Drip</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13398;left:108">The drip of honey,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13419;left:108">on your breast, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13441;left:108">was the beginning, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13462;left:108">of the finish. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13504;left:108">The sex could have been better. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13547;left:108">I should have known, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13568;left:108">Better than to use McNugget brand, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13589;left:108">You’ve always been, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13611;left:108">A Burger King girl. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:13653;left:216">-Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14431;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_13"><b>Page 13</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14544;left:108">Modern Forms of Corn </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14586;left:108">When I was a baby, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14607;left:108">I ate cold corn from a can, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14629;left:108">one kernal at a time. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14650;left:108">The can was aluminum. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14692;left:108">Now that I am older, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14714;left:108">I find it cooked, from a frozen bag,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14735;left:108">with a pot of chinese noodles, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14756;left:108">as I sit at a table. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14799;left:108">Somehow I know, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14820;left:108">That I am modern, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14841;left:108">That the forms of corn that I know, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14862;left:108">rarely come straight from the husk. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14905;left:108">Someday, a stalk might grow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14926;left:108">on the land where my family lives. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14947;left:108">Until then, I will enjoy,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:14968;left:108">the corn that finds its way to me. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:15011;left:108">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:15011;left:407">March 17, 1998 5:15 PM </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:15619;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_14"><b>Page 14</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="5" face="Times"><span style="font-size:34px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:16180;left:389">Chapter 3 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:16222;left:302">The Opposite Species</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:16807;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_15"><b>Page 15</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:16920;left:108"><b>Candle Beaux</b></div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:16962;left:108">The liquid mesh of your tounge, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:16983;left:108">web will strike the spark which, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17005;left:108">creates our flame. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17047;left:108">You should be aware of my love. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17090;left:108">My love is like a warm candle dripping, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17111;left:108">upon your stiff wax body, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17132;left:108">until our flame expires. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17175;left:108">I will cover you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17196;left:108">and we will be frozen together, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17217;left:108">and you will be buried inside, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17238;left:108">what we both are, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17259;left:108">and our plastic substance, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17281;left:108">will stick to the,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17302;left:108">rock onto which, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17323;left:108">we were set, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17344;left:108">until the sun melts us, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17366;left:108">into eternity. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:17995;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_16"><b>Page 16</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18108;left:108"><b>Foreign Exchange Student - I want to write to you.</b></div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18193;left:108">My fingers drip through your </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18214;left:108">rainforest flesh and you gush. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18235;left:108">I want you to feel the tide </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18256;left:108">like the top of a surfer’s tube </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18278;left:108">that I’ve never ridden. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18320;left:108">Your earlobes are my toungues </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18341;left:108">grope spot and I see the arch of your </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18363;left:108">back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18384;left:108">I twist my bony musicians hands </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18405;left:108">mathemetician’s hands </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18426;left:108">into your hair, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18447;left:108">the crop of your, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18469;left:108">short tight golden mane, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18490;left:108">not dyed at the roots, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18511;left:108">and your fingers </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18532;left:108">grip the post, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18554;left:108">your arm twisted underneath, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18575;left:108">your neck, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18596;left:108">behind your head. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18639;left:108">I will not speak of your breasts, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18660;left:108">they do not make you the student that you are, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18681;left:108">I will not ask of your past lovers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18702;left:108">for their voices, and their lack of vision with respect to your value, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18724;left:108">are inconsequential. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18745;left:108">I already know that you will tell me about them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18766;left:108">when the time is ready,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18787;left:108">and of course, as I have spoken, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18809;left:108">the time before our mergeance,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18830;left:108">will be long, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18851;left:108">and you will have to write your thoughts about this poem, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18872;left:108">and this experience, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18894;left:108">after I introduce you to my family, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18915;left:108">and our strange ways, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18936;left:108">and my many tribes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18957;left:108">and your exchange parents despise me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:18978;left:108">while your real ones have an adoration for my effort, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19000;left:108">It is my belief, that you will be the one, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19021;left:108">and that it will yet be, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19042;left:108">a long time in coming.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19183;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_17"><b>Page 17</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="4" face="Times"><span style="font-size:21px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19297;left:108">O.L.S.P. </div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:18px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19346;left:108">Oversexed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19370;left:108">Lesbian, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19395;left:108">Skinhead, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19419;left:108">Pro-Choice Girl,</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19443;left:108">I dream of running my toungue, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19464;left:108">beneath your armpit. </div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:18px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19507;left:108">Oversexed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19532;left:108">Lesbian, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19556;left:108">Skinhead, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19581;left:108">Pro-Choice Girl,</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19605;left:108">I want to sling your suspenders, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19626;left:108">over my door knob. </div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:18px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19669;left:108">Oversexed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19693;left:108">Lesbian, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19718;left:108">Skinhead, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19742;left:108">Pro-Choice Girl,</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19766;left:108">You need my love, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19788;left:108">Oh yeah, You need my love. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19830;left:108">Heh... </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:19873;left:270">-Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20371;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_18"><b>Page 18</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20484;left:108">Fishnet Marianne </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20505;left:108">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20526;left:108">June 21, 1998, 6:04 AM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20569;left:108">A girl in stockings, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20590;left:108">With long legs, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20611;left:108">And blonde hair. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20632;left:108">I kissed you once, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20654;left:108">In the back of Scott’s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20675;left:108">Black Ford. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20717;left:108">Your hair behind my hand, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20739;left:108">Soft and thin, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20760;left:108">Set my senses into overdrive. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20781;left:108">And then he came out, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20802;left:108">Your skinhead boyfriend, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20823;left:108">Pulling his shirt off.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20866;left:108">He didn’t know, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20887;left:108">We had kissed on the hill, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20908;left:108">Next to Tops, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20930;left:108">While Scott bought, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20951;left:108">his stinking, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:20972;left:108">Budweiser. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21015;left:108">Earlier,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21036;left:108">We’d had wine, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21057;left:108">In your apartment, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21078;left:108">The six of us, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21100;left:108">And your friend Tanya. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21121;left:108">The room was dim. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21163;left:108">To this day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21185;left:108">You are not forgotten. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21206;left:108">But how could you forget, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21227;left:108">Black combat boots, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21248;left:108">And dark sunglasses, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21270;left:108">At our first meeting,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21312;left:108">In the cafe. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21559;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_19"><b>Page 19</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21671;left:135">A Stand With Jinx</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21694;left:135">October 30, 1999 4:46 AM</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21718;left:135">Dedicated to Sue Finnucone</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21742;left:135">Wherever she is now<font face="Symbol">…</font></div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21789;left:135">In your denim jacket</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21813;left:135">You watched us play chess</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21837;left:135">In the coffee house </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21861;left:135">On Allen Street </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21908;left:135">I was wired on caffeine</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21932;left:135">Mike the mad Russian was there</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21956;left:135">We were all going to Larry’s for a few games after closing </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:21979;left:135">And I invited you</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22027;left:135">Your jeans were bleached black </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22051;left:135">And torn at the knees </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22075;left:135">You were wearing cheap sneakers</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22098;left:135">With your long curling hair, and pale face. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22146;left:135">We were hungry</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22170;left:135">And we all walked </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22193;left:135">To Niagara Street in the darkness</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22217;left:135">I bought us chips and salsa. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22265;left:135">We shared a soda in the doorframe </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22288;left:135">Of the small apartment </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22312;left:135">You told me about the streets</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22336;left:135">While Larry played with his Nunchucks</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22383;left:135">He was a tall African </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22407;left:135">Looking like Michael Jackson </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22431;left:135">With missing teeth</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22455;left:135">And a fuzzing fro. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22502;left:135">I asked you if you wanted to come home with me</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22526;left:135">And you did,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22550;left:135">And neither of us showered,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22573;left:135">Until after we had been naked. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22747;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_20"><b>Page 20</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22859;left:135">Your body was smooth and young,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22882;left:135">And your skin cushiony </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22906;left:135">To the tips of my fingers</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22930;left:135">As I stroked your hips. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:22977;left:135">You asked me to take you back to Ba’s house </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:23001;left:135">So I drove you there </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:23025;left:135">And we ran out of cigarettes.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:23049;left:135">We walked to the back of Quality Markets.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:23096;left:135">We had rice with his father for lunch </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:23120;left:135">But I couldn’t let myself sleep there,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:23144;left:135">So I drove home,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:23167;left:135">And didn’t see you until a year later.</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:23935;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_21"><b>Page 21</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="5" face="Times"><span style="font-size:34px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:24496;left:389">Chapter 4 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:24538;left:353">Transportation</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25123;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_22"><b>Page 22</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25236;left:135">The Big Red Men </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25257;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25278;left:135">1993 </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25321;left:135">The men in their big red trucks are evil. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25342;left:135">They smile with their big red smiles, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25363;left:135">while they murder the innocent with, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25384;left:135">their big red wheels of steel. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25427;left:135">The cost of their plague to society is tremendous. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25469;left:135">The big red men with their big red trucks, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25491;left:135">and their big red smiles, and their big red, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25512;left:135">wheels of steel, must be destroyed. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:25533;left:135">But I shall not reveal my strategy. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26311;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_23"><b>Page 23</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26424;left:135">Wires</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26445;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26487;left:135">My house is connected to wires. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26509;left:135">Outdoors. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26530;left:135">Inside my room, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26551;left:135">my wires connect. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26594;left:135">Connected to my parents room, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26615;left:135">My telephone, buzzes sometimes. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26636;left:135">The modem humms at night, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26657;left:135">when I am alone. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26700;left:135">I stand outside, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26721;left:135">under the wires, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26742;left:135">while the data transfers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26763;left:135">to my machine,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26806;left:135">My thoughts can be sent out, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26827;left:135">To my friends, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26848;left:135">My family, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26870;left:135">My world community, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:26912;left:135">On Wires. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27499;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_24"><b>Page 24</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27612;left:135">Steering Column</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27654;left:135">There was a time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27675;left:135">when I could appreciate you. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27697;left:135">Now you are rigid, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27718;left:135">You no longer obey my commands. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27760;left:135">I try to strap myself in behind you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27782;left:135">But it is never comfortable anymore. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27803;left:135">Ever since the workman switched you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27824;left:135">You have been untilting.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:27867;left:297">-Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28687;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_25"><b>Page 25</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28800;left:135">Scramble</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28842;left:135">Rough like a jump jet pilot, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28863;left:135">Take off, in a windstorm, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28885;left:135">While a siren bounces, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28906;left:135">Through unfiltered air.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28948;left:135">Mickey mouse on a cheese wheel, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28970;left:135">Running to catch a morsel, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:28991;left:135">That he can smell,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29012;left:135">but will never taste.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29055;left:135">Make me some eggs, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29076;left:135">Tobasco is nice, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29097;left:135">Mushrooms rule, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29118;left:135">I like a side of hash browns. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29161;left:135">Up the hillside,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29182;left:135">with a big gun in his hand, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29203;left:135">Jumping mud clumps, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29224;left:135">Man has to hold on. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29267;left:135">I like a puzzle with a point, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29288;left:135">One that bends my mind, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29309;left:135">One that takes me down, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29331;left:135">To a place where I,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29373;left:135">Scramble. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29875;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_26"><b>Page 26</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:29988;left:135">Salamander</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:14px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30008;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30047;left:135">I came up to catch you,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30066;left:135">On the big hill,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30085;left:135">Down by the road,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30105;left:135">Near Niagara University.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30143;left:135">During the winter, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30162;left:135">We all sled here, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30182;left:135">But now it’s September,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30201;left:135">And it’s just starting to get cold.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30239;left:135">I rode my banana seat bike, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30259;left:135">All the way from my house,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30278;left:135">And then I parked it in the mud,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30297;left:135">Under the mudslide.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30336;left:135">You should see yourself,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30355;left:135">Peeking out,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30374;left:135">From under the rock, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30394;left:135">Into my eyes.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30432;left:135">You think that you might,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30451;left:135">Scramble away,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30471;left:135">And slither through the mud,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30490;left:135">But I am faster.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30528;left:135">I’ve got you now,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30548;left:135">In my Cool Whip bowl, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30567;left:135">And I stuck some grass inside,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30586;left:135">So that you can play.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30625;left:135">You’ll enjoy the bumpy ride, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30644;left:135">While I drive,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30663;left:135">One handed back home, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30682;left:135">On the yellow bananna seat. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30721;left:135">You can slide around, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30740;left:135">In my aquarium, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30759;left:135">Because you’re cool,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30779;left:135">And purple.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30817;left:135">And I won’t let you die,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30837;left:135">Like the tiny frog,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30856;left:135">Last year,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30875;left:135">With no water.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:30914;left:135">Little, Purple, Salamander, I’ll let you go soon.</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:31063;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_27"><b>Page 27</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="5" face="Times"><span style="font-size:34px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:31624;left:389">Chapter 5 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:31666;left:395">Urbanity</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32251;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_28"><b>Page 28</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32362;left:135">The Bum </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32385;left:135">by Christopher Bradley </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32432;left:135">At one time, there was a bum on the corner of main and ontario. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32479;left:135">he had deep old weary eyes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32502;left:135">a watery sunken smile, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32526;left:135">and whiskers smelling of olde english, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32549;left:135">eight hundred, that was. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32596;left:135">a cracked face and clothes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32619;left:135">smelling of vermin musk, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32643;left:135">reeked out at me on the pavement, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32666;left:135">as I wandered by his corner. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32713;left:135">Did I mention, that I was speaking, of a bum? </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32760;left:135">I remember asking myself, many times, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32783;left:135">does he understand his place here? </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32806;left:135">He must have, for it was sacred ground, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32830;left:135">the ground that he owned. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32877;left:135">We passed the fringe, the mass of flesh, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32900;left:135">huddled in his coats, yes, he knew, and he was aware. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32923;left:135">We walked to the Burger King, and bought some fries. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32947;left:135">Would you like dessert with that? </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:32994;left:135">Once again, as I recall, we were speaking, of a bum. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33040;left:135">The change fell from the worn hole, in my pocket, as we passed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33064;left:135">on the way back. We thought he would scramble for it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33087;left:135">We walked on, back to the car. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33111;left:135">Get in, drive away, don&#39;t think, drive, get gas, drive. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33157;left:135">The next day, the same corner was in our path, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33181;left:135">his corner, the corner belonging to the worn frown, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33204;left:135">the hairy beast, the friend of no-one. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33228;left:135">He was gone. I saw twenty-two cents on the pavement. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33274;left:135">I believe, I&#39;ve told you, enough, about the bum. Maybe not.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33439;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_29"><b>Page 29</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33552;left:135"><b>Trinket Tandem</b></div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33594;left:135">My Nike Air’s Iz Fat </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33615;left:135">I Got Red Shoe Laces </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33637;left:135">My Brother Is A Black Man </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33658;left:135">My Father Is The White Race </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33700;left:135">I Just Got This Black Raider’s Jacket</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33722;left:135">I Just Bought This White Pick-Up Truck </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33743;left:135">My Gold Chains Shine On My Brothers </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33764;left:135">My Red Arm Band Scares My Enemies </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33807;left:135">I Have A Super Nintendo </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33828;left:135">I Have The Sega-CD </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33870;left:135">Ooops. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33913;left:135">Did you say, you play, Mortal Kombat Three?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33955;left:135">I have Donkey Kong Country, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33976;left:135">I have Sonic The Hedgehog, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:33998;left:135">I have Return Of The Jedi, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34019;left:135">I have The Empire Strikes Back... </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34061;left:135">White people watch Star Wars? I thought that was Corny?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34083;left:135">Black people know about Star Wars? I thought they didn’t understand. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34104;left:135">Hey, you know I can shoot hoops, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34125;left:135">I used to play in high school - Let’s Go, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34146;left:135">I’ll bring the ball, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34168;left:135">I got the beer, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34189;left:135">Can I bring some friends?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34210;left:135">I was going to ask the same thing.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34253;left:135">Let’s Do It. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34274;left:135">Check. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34627;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_30"><b>Page 30</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34740;left:135"><b>Outside The Wall</b></div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34782;left:135">I know that this has been written before, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34803;left:135">but I must give you my version anyway. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34846;left:135">I am standing outside the wall. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34867;left:135">My friends have pushed me out here. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34888;left:135">My family has insisted upon the same, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34910;left:135">in not quite the same fashion. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34952;left:135">I have joined them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:34973;left:135">but at what cost. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35016;left:135">I can no longer exist on the same plane, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35037;left:135">as simply a body of flesh, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35058;left:135">I must now excercise my mind, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35079;left:135">and it gets harder again, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35101;left:135">I feel like I am two, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35122;left:135">because it is hard to show myself, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35143;left:135">as a human, to people, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35164;left:135">that have not shown me the same. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35186;left:135">The wall still stands before them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35207;left:135">and they punch at it with rubber mallets. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35249;left:135">I must learn to be less demanding of surface contact, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35271;left:135">and more demanding of my friends, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35292;left:135">for their love can crush me quicker than any other. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35334;left:135">The friction in my mind is dying,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35356;left:135">and I am seeking physical sleep, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35377;left:135">while my mind records the day.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35815;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_31"><b>Page 31</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35928;left:135">Rock City Windowdedicated to Scott Ansel and Jodi Crocker<b><font color="#008000" face="Times">By Christopher J. Bradley</font></b></div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:14px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35970;left:135">A dim light shining,through a grated screen window,and thin curtains,falls on the red glow of an</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:35989;left:135">alarmclock.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36028;left:135">My friend sleeps,snoring loudly under covers,on the couch. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36047;left:135">There is a cigarette,smoldering smoke up around,my computer,as I type in the dark apartment.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36086;left:135">I have spent several weekends,here with them,they live a Rock life,with a hundred CD cases. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36124;left:135">Their two cats, black,purr in the darkness,with the girl in her room.An answering machine light</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36143;left:135">blinks,green,next to the charging cordless phone.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36182;left:135">They have all of the amenities of home.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36220;left:135">Someday I will be independent,and strike out on my own,maybe in a different way,maybe the </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36240;left:135">same.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36278;left:135">There are considerations to make,And circumstances cannot be the same,for someone with my</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36297;left:135">special case.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36336;left:135">Can I live in an art district?Can I salvage any of my talent?Can I aquire enough new toys?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36374;left:135">Maybe this small light I see,will show me the way.</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="5" face="Times"><span style="font-size:34px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36441;left:389">Chapter 6 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:36483;left:282">Writings For My Family</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37003;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_32"><b>Page 32</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37116;left:135">Naval Park </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37137;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37158;left:135">For Robert Alan Bradley (my father) </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37201;left:135">I saw it once, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37222;left:135">as a cub scout. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37243;left:135">The Naval Park </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37264;left:135">Buffalo New York. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37307;left:135">Then one time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37328;left:135">Dad, You took us, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37349;left:135">The family, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37371;left:135">On a ship. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37413;left:135">We cruised the edge of the city, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37434;left:135">in a new War Boat. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37455;left:135">It was grey painted, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37477;left:135">and manned with many men. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37519;left:135">Back then you were working,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37540;left:135">For the government, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37562;left:135">and for a place that made </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37583;left:135">aircraft radar jammers. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37625;left:135">Someday I will show you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:37647;left:135">How I can work. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38191;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_33"><b>Page 33</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38304;left:135">The Fire Of Dawn </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38325;left:135">dedicated to Dawn Bradley</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38346;left:135">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38389;left:189">I can remember the things that</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38410;left:189">you have told me about you. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38431;left:189">You wanted me to go to school, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38452;left:189">you gave up many things for me. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38474;left:189">You lived with crazy people </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38495;left:189">that were unhappy. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38537;left:189">You did this so that I could know my father. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38559;left:189">I became like the jungle man upstairs </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38580;left:189">that you feared, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38601;left:189">and you have fixed my broken back. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38643;left:189">I became him even though you did </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38665;left:189">your best for me. I should never have joined the tribe. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38686;left:189">The lord of the flies ate my soul </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38707;left:189">and now I am forced to rebuild it </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38728;left:189">or take on again with that pack. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38771;left:189">They are like snakes and wolves combined, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38792;left:189">they slither and leap and poison and tear, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38813;left:189">and there is no escape without the intervention </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38835;left:189">of the people of our house. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38877;left:189">The houses of Arnold and Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38898;left:189">rest quietly on the Block of what is </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:38920;left:189">called madness by the city. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39379;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_34"><b>Page 34</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39513;left:189">John wrote in the Revelation </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39534;left:189">2000 years ago in Chapter 17 </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39555;left:189">verses 15 through 18 : </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39598;left:189">“The waters you saw, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39619;left:189">on which the prosititute sits, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39640;left:189">are nations, peoples, races, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39662;left:189">and languages. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39683;left:189">The ten horns that you saw, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39704;left:189">and the Beast, will hate the Prostitute. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39725;left:189">They will take away everything she has </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39747;left:189">and leave her naked. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39768;left:189">They will eat her flesh </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39789;left:189">and destroy her with fire. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39810;left:189">For God has placed in their hearts</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39831;left:189">the will to carry out his purpose.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39853;left:189">By acting together, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39874;left:194">and giving to the Beast </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39895;left:189">their power to rule until </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39916;left:189">God’s words come true. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39938;left:189">The woman that you saw is </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39959;left:189">the great woman that rules </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:39980;left:189">over the kings of the earth.” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40023;left:189">Mother, I have given you </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40044;left:194">to the ten horns of the Beast </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40065;left:189">and you have crushed them all. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40086;left:189">As though to set your </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40108;left:189">foot upon the eggshell </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40129;left:189">backs of dead sea-urchins. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40150;left:189">You and your kin are mighty.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40193;left:189">My name will be a killing word. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40214;left:189">I will crush the city when</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40235;left:189">it’s vision fails to show truth. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40256;left:189">The woman with the cup filled </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40278;left:189">with blood has stolen from me. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40299;left:189">And I will not drink of her spittle again. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40320;left:189">Let her dry up and die of dehydration. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40341;left:189">There is no wine for her left in the bottle. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40384;left:189">For she has too many times </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40405;left:189">choked off my breath </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40426;left:189">with her vile toungue. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40567;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_35"><b>Page 35</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40701;left:189">You raised me to survive and succeed and I have failed... </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40722;left:189">I have fallen like an Asimov Robot </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40743;left:189">who has misinterpreted its simple instructions. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40765;left:189">Mother, you dressed me for the snow and rain </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40786;left:189">and kept me from the roads to protect me </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40807;left:189">because your baby brother Paul died in his sleep. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40828;left:189">How can I forget this? You have done me no wrong. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40871;left:189">It is the television that I will smash. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40892;left:189">It is the television and it’s blind naked vixens </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40913;left:189">and it’s blind naked dead men </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40935;left:189">whose skin will be torn apart by my white fire. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40977;left:189">A leper fails to believe... </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:40998;left:189">I have been given this mark of the athlete on my foot </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41019;left:189">to remind me that I am a destroyer. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41041;left:189">If I am forced to destroy for God, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41062;left:189">Then my name is already a killing word, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41083;left:189">and my name is of my house. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41104;left:189">A house that is strong. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41147;left:189">And my house is held up by my mother, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41168;left:189">who has fostered my need. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41189;left:189">She has sent me out to be crushed </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41211;left:189">by the city and her whims so that I will learn. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41253;left:189">She has brought me back with the books </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41274;left:189">of his word and borne another child </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41296;left:189">before crossing over the mountain, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41317;left:189">that I must now teach. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41359;left:189">I will save him someday as others have saved me</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41381;left:189">by teaching me to be innocent. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41402;left:189">I will rip the enemies of my house </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41423;left:189">and my brother’s house and my children’s houses </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41444;left:189">to bloody shreads with my bladed fingers </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41466;left:189">and the point of my pen. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41755;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_36"><b>Page 36</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41889;left:189">I will destroy their clans of dark power</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41910;left:189">with my understanding that they are evil. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41931;left:189">You who see this that do not deserve to </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41953;left:189">will not question the words that I write. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41974;left:189">Anyone who does this is my enemy.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:41995;left:189">You will not question the words that I speak. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42016;left:189">Anyone who does this will be burned and will not survive.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42038;left:189">You are all the children of God, the only God. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42059;left:189">And you should follow your leaders to him. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42080;left:189">If not, it has already been written that you will die.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42123;left:189">Your fate has been determined by the strength </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42144;left:189">of my mother’s pain </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42165;left:189">and my brother’s hand. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42186;left:189">My father has given me science?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42207;left:189">Has yours?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42229;left:189">Do you not then have something to </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42250;left:189">demand of your father?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42292;left:189">Show me the pain of your house, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42314;left:189">and I will say that you are strong, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42335;left:189">but not until then. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42377;left:189">You will not forget my mother’s name. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42420;left:189">For when the sun rises, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42441;left:189">those of you that are with my house </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42462;left:189">and have sought out your true Father </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42484;left:189">and succeeded will see my vision. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42505;left:189">For those of you who would question my words, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42526;left:189">even after the warnings given in the only book of God. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42547;left:189">Her name will be written beyond your pathetic reality. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42569;left:189">Her name will be written on the sky with Raes</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42590;left:189">through the ashes of the unfaithful. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42611;left:189">And by the Lord, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42632;left:189">She will be called Dawn. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:42943;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_37"><b>Page 37</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43056;left:135">On My Brother’s Graduation </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43077;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43098;left:135">Dedicated to Daniel Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43141;left:135">After the long drive,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43162;left:135">And sleep in a comfortable bed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43183;left:135">Next to my brother, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43204;left:135">Five Years old now, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43226;left:135">We walk through the courtyards, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43247;left:135">Of the Spring Green Campus. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43289;left:135">It is almost un-natural, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43311;left:135">The color of the grass, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43332;left:135">And blinding to my night eyes. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43353;left:135">We approach the neat rows of chairs. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43395;left:135">My father strings a Japanese Camera, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43417;left:135">Around his neck, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43438;left:135">And sits waiting patiently, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43459;left:135">For the ceremony, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43480;left:135">When he will walk to the front of the podium, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43502;left:135">And quickly snap out pictures. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43544;left:135">We all talk about Daniel, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43565;left:135">And his success, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43587;left:135">And we watch him climb to the top, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43608;left:135">In a long black robe, with a square hat. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43650;left:135">Now no one can take away, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:43672;left:135">Our first four year degree. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:44131;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_38"><b>Page 38</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="5" face="Times"><span style="font-size:34px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:44692;left:389">Chapter 7 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:44734;left:351">Transcendence</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45319;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_39"><b>Page 39</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45432;left:135">Silly Putty</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45453;left:135">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45474;left:135">February 14, 1998 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45517;left:135">like a mostly pink ball, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45538;left:135">of changeable shape, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45559;left:135">I take the news on </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45580;left:135">as my skin </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45623;left:135">And I am tossed around </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45644;left:135">by the hands of an infinitely young, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45665;left:135">and an infinitely old, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45687;left:135">God, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45708;left:135">to be present, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45729;left:135">to witness, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45750;left:135">the many jokes, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45771;left:135">of the earth. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45814;left:135">Can I wash this newsprint off?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45835;left:135">Or will it turn me grey, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45856;left:135">as I get older?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45899;left:135">And how, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45920;left:135">can I keep the beautiful</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45941;left:135">colors inside?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:45984;left:135">Perhaps the solution, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46005;left:135">is my indefinable puzzle, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46026;left:135">being worked, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46048;left:135">by His hands. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46507;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_40"><b>Page 40</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46620;left:135">Skylit Clouds </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46641;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46662;left:135">Dedicated to Scott Ansel and Eric Gansworth </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46705;left:135">I went out to see my Black Maple, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46726;left:135">In the blackness tonight. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46747;left:135">I thought I would reflect on her, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46768;left:135">And then I thought, I have a paper to write. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46811;left:135">But when I looked up, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46832;left:135">I saw looking away from me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46853;left:135">The pale junkie face, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46875;left:135">Of Ziggy Stardust. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46917;left:135">Ziggy was hiding in the Skylit Clouds. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46938;left:135">They pushed back and forth, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46959;left:135">Anchored by his bright white head, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:46981;left:135">With the mouth hung open. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47023;left:135">You could see his teeth, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47044;left:135">In the shadow of his painted lips, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47066;left:135">When the clouds cleared his way,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47087;left:135">And his mottled eyes re-sang his song. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47129;left:135">Now I think I let myself wonder again, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47151;left:135">“So where were the spiders?” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47172;left:135">And I think, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47193;left:135">What is a paper anyway?</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47236;left:135">The Skylit Clouds will always, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47257;left:135">Bring back Ziggy,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47278;left:135">The Skylit Clouds will always, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47299;left:135">Take me back - </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47342;left:135">To where these words began. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47695;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_41"><b>Page 41</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:14px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47807;left:135">The Stars, They Move</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47826;left:135">by Christopher Bradley</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47846;left:135">September 12, 1999 4:53 AM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47884;left:135">Above my lawn, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47903;left:135">Above my big bushes,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47923;left:135">Above the front face of my blue house,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47942;left:135">Above my maple,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47961;left:135">Above the tall buildings in the city to the South,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:47980;left:135">The stars, They move.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48019;left:135">Little dots that aren’t little at all,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48038;left:135">Monstrous balls of fire,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48057;left:135">They spin, and twist,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48077;left:135">in seven hundred and twenty degree rotation. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48115;left:135">They have slow momentum, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48135;left:135">while space folds and flows around them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48154;left:135">And planets gravitate,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48173;left:135">They shift and slide through the universe,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48192;left:135">There are more than a thousand points of light,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48212;left:135">in the blackness of a cool clear night.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48250;left:135">The moon is a chunk of rock, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48269;left:135">With personality,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48289;left:135">It has no water,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48308;left:135">It finds its life from our sun.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48346;left:135">Stars die phasically,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48366;left:135">losing their flare,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48385;left:135">They are born in a quick burst,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48404;left:135">And pulsate radio blasts of energy, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48423;left:135">The spectrum is their art form,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48443;left:135">All color falls from their skies.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48481;left:135">Actors move,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48500;left:135">like Mel Gibson on a motorcycle,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48520;left:135">or Tom Cruise launching in an F14, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48539;left:135">from the surface of a Naval Carrier.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48577;left:135">But they do not burn, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48597;left:135">or smolder with passion,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48616;left:135">in Red, White, and Blue. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48635;left:135">Above us all.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48655;left:135">Above us all.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48674;left:135">Above us all.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48712;left:135">The stars, They move.</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48753;left:135">Zen Thing </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48883;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_42"><b>Page 42</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:48996;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49038;left:135">I think I just did a Zen thing.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49059;left:135">I learned how to breathe, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49081;left:135">and my lungs allowed me to do it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49123;left:135">I saw a sign yesterday.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49144;left:135">“Get Your Butt Out Of My Face,” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49166;left:135">Teaching with aversion. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49187;left:135">I don’t think that it always works. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49208;left:135">I still have the strong urge to smoke, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49229;left:135">cigarettes, when I see people, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49251;left:135">destroying themselves, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49272;left:135">destroying their families, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49293;left:135">destroying their communities, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49314;left:135">destroying their habitat. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49357;left:135">I can feel the maple leaves burning, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49378;left:135">when I breathe. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49420;left:135">When I breathe, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49442;left:135">the inside of my face burns like fire. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49463;left:135">But the leaves, they drip with acids in the</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49484;left:135">water hanging in the air.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49505;left:135">Are the leaves as strong as my lungs?</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49527;left:135">Can my lungs show their color, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49548;left:135">with the twisting of the sphere?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49590;left:135">My maple has been growing for </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49612;left:135">twenty-nine years. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49633;left:135">It is being sapped by our shortcomings. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49654;left:135">I will guess that my casket </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49675;left:135">will be constructed of its body, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49697;left:135">and we will rest in peace together : </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49739;left:135">when we cease to breathe, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49760;left:135">when the water washes us, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49782;left:135">back into the earth, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49803;left:135">and the sun warms, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49824;left:135">the whole, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49845;left:135">of who we are. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:49888;left:135">The presences of existing nature. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:50071;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_43"><b>Page 43</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:50184;left:108">Black Operations</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:50205;left:108">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:50247;left:108">There was a war in Nineteen Ninety Six.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:50269;left:108">The month was January. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:50290;left:108">It was the first year, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:50311;left:108">That I ran for President.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51259;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_44"><b>Page 44</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51372;left:108">Cracker</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51414;left:108">I had known it was coming,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51435;left:108">Because Jinx D. Cooley, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51457;left:108">Had dropped me the line, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51478;left:108">After a ride with a crack addict. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51520;left:108">We drove in my Dodge Shadow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51542;left:108">All over Buffalo, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51563;left:108">And that was Nineteen Ninety Five, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51584;left:108">He wouldn’t get out of the car. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51627;left:108">We didn’t know who he was, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51648;left:108">When he ended up in the car, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51669;left:108">We had walked away from an addict, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51690;left:108">He had been with us, and Jinx had invited him. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51733;left:108">We found out when he told us, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51754;left:108">That his wife had kicked him, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51775;left:108">Out of his house, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51796;left:108">He was ex-army, and hi-strung. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51839;left:108">Jinx puked on the East Side, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51860;left:108">In the house where he visited his brother, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51881;left:108">While his “friend” who we’d also let in, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51903;left:108">Watched me ouside the house. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51945;left:108">I thought he had a gun. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51966;left:108">The simple fact, was that he was bigger, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:51988;left:108">And he was black. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52009;left:108">A Black Operative. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52051;left:108">He made us drive a long way,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52073;left:108">And we stopped at many businesses, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52094;left:108">That were closing,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52115;left:108">In the darkness of three past midnight. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52158;left:108">It was a Wednesday in the summer,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52179;left:108">And I didn’t have to work that day.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52200;left:108">I was the Iron Cow,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52221;left:108">And they liked my sweatshirt. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52447;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_45"><b>Page 45</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52560;left:108">The told Jinx to marry me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52581;left:108">And she said she couldn’t, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52602;left:108">Because of her “friends” </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52623;left:108">That was before I slammed his finger in the trunk. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52666;left:108">The last stop had been Kentucky Fried Chicken, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52687;left:108">Where another of his “friends” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52708;left:108">Had left a bag of garbage with fresh food in it, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52730;left:108">After loading the back, I smashed his finger. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52772;left:108">I learned that he wasn’t violent, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52793;left:108">Toward me at that instant. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52815;left:108">He yelled a lot, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52836;left:108">And then got in the car again. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52878;left:108">We dropped him at his wife’s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52899;left:108">And his “friend” carried their fourty-ounce, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52921;left:108">And Jinx and I,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52942;left:108">Had sex in the basement that night. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:52984;left:108">She explained to me about the “friends” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53006;left:108">And in Nineteen Ninety Five, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53027;left:108">I thought that she was crazy.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53048;left:108">The “friends” protected her, she said. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53091;left:108">She told me that she wanted, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53112;left:108">To teach me how to survive, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53133;left:108">On the street without a car. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53154;left:108">I told her that I already knew. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53197;left:108">All of this happened before Boston. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53218;left:108">I went to Boston. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53239;left:108">I took an Irish “friend” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53261;left:108">He picked our appartment. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53635;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_46"><b>Page 46</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53748;left:108">Boston</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53790;left:108">We met an MIT Graduate, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53811;left:108">She was a scientist, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53833;left:108">Who told us about apartments, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53854;left:108">In a coffee shop. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53896;left:108">The Irishman sorted through the list, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53918;left:108">And picked our residence, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53939;left:108">Correctly the first time. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:53960;left:108">The old man we lived with, was a schematic artist. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54003;left:108">The old man, was a “friend” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54024;left:108">He knew the owners of a bar, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54045;left:108">And we went there exactly one time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54066;left:108">And played scrabble, and learned linguistics. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54109;left:108">I used my computer knowledge, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54130;left:108">Of Operating System 2, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54151;left:108">And Microsoft technology,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54172;left:108">And Voicemail and Facscimile. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54215;left:108">I obtained a job, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54236;left:108">And used the bus, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54257;left:108">Subway, and Taxi, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54279;left:108">All for work. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54321;left:108">The Irishman was frugal,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54342;left:108">He despised the money problem, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54364;left:108">And didn’t like the nighttime, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54385;left:108">In a city that closed at two. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54427;left:108">He chose our landlord, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54449;left:108">For a loss, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54470;left:108">And set us up, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54491;left:108">To have to leave. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54823;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_47"><b>Page 47</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54936;left:108">Billy “The Buffalo” Graham</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54978;left:108">In nineteen ninety five, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:54999;left:108">The winds of war swept Buffalo, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55021;left:108">And Bill Gates, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55042;left:108">Owned the year. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55084;left:108">I worked for him for a while, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55106;left:108">On his supposed project, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55127;left:108">And when it apparently fell through, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55148;left:108">I went to school. And met the literalists. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55191;left:108">At first I was disturbed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55212;left:108">When I saw Billy Graham, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55233;left:108">Say that a powerful force, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55254;left:108">Had driven the man across the Falls on a tightrope. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55297;left:108">Billy Graham was convinced, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55318;left:108">That it was time for us to walk the tightrope again. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55339;left:108">Billy Graham had let me know, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55360;left:108">In a simple three minutes, that the tightrope was mine.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55403;left:108">Billy Graham was the savior, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55424;left:108">Of the supposed right, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55445;left:108">And the left, well, they aren’t really “friends.” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55467;left:108">Be aware of your behaviors he said. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55509;left:108">I won’t tell you how he knew about Niagara, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55530;left:108">And I won’t tell you what sorts would alert him, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55552;left:108">That we were here, And alive, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55573;left:108">And waiting to be brought to Jesus. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55615;left:108">I was learning how to write, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55637;left:108">And Jinx was on my mind a lot, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55658;left:108">While I went to school, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:55679;left:108">But how is it that you can write about Jinx?</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56011;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_48"><b>Page 48</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56124;left:108">Jinx D. Cooley</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56166;left:108">Jinx was a little edgy, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56187;left:108">For a “friend,” of Seventeen years, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56209;left:108">She was into bikers, And seventies punks, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56230;left:108">I’d just met her the second time before the Cracker. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56272;left:108">She was the Irishman’s fault, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56294;left:108">Both times we saw each other, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56315;left:108">He had been out of sight, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56336;left:108">In the background, Somewhere close. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56379;left:108">A once a year sex freak, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56400;left:108">She spent our time in the basement, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56421;left:108">Both times in June. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56442;left:108">And she showed me her copper bound knife. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56485;left:108">Jinx was going to Florida, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56506;left:108">She’d done it the year before, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56527;left:108">With her boyfriend, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56548;left:108">A biker without a bike. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56591;left:108">She was still seeing him, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56612;left:108">But she had needed to see me, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56633;left:108">Before she left the second time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56655;left:108">Because she missed me. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56697;left:108">She said she’d had an abortion, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56718;left:108">And she didn’t know whose it was, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56740;left:108">But that she hoped it wasn’t John’s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56761;left:108">And that maybe it was, well maybe not, mine.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56803;left:108">I will assume his name, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56825;left:108">Was John Smith, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56846;left:108">But there was never any reason, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56867;left:108">For concern about him, He was a nice guy.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56910;left:108">I dropped her off that summer, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56931;left:108">On a long road, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56952;left:108">In Sanborn, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:56973;left:108">The same place she’d called me from.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57199;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_49"><b>Page 49</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57312;left:108">The New Scriptures</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57354;left:108">As I said, I was learning to write. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57375;left:108">I was the jungle-man, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57397;left:108">And described the Twenty Third Chapter, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57418;left:108">Of The Book Of Revelation. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57460;left:108">I managed not to Damn my soul, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57482;left:108">By not claiming my words were truth. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57503;left:108">And as you can see, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57524;left:108">Nothing has been added to the Book of Life. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57567;left:108">And the war started in heavens, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57588;left:108">In “The Prophecy”, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57609;left:108">And there was no room, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57630;left:108">For a second demon, in the conclusion. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57673;left:108">Eric Stoltz was Simon, at Gabriel’s right, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57694;left:108">In a war between Gabriel and Michael, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57715;left:108">Over whether humans should, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57736;left:108">Bathe in the glory of God. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57779;left:113">I saw the film after the war,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57800;left:108">And I knew that it was history,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57821;left:108">Otherwise, the story would never, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:57843;left:108">Never, have been told in proper form. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58387;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_50"><b>Page 50</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58500;left:108">John Travolta, My Uncle </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58542;left:108">The man, from Washington, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58563;left:108">He was my Uncle, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58585;left:108">And he rode into Washington, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58606;left:108">In a Jeep from the Navy. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58648;left:108">I knew that I’d seen him before, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58670;left:108">When he was hip in the seventies, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58691;left:108">And he danced in a nightclub, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58712;left:108">And wore bell-bottoms in Florida. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58755;left:108">He complained about his ex-wife, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58776;left:108">And checks up on his kid, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58797;left:108">At least once a month. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58818;left:108">His ex-wife is a Catherine. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58861;left:108">We stepped into a Tops, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58882;left:108">And talked about Grandma’s House, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58903;left:108">And all of the fixing it needed. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:58924;left:108">He was my hero, because he saved her. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59575;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_51"><b>Page 51</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59688;left:108">Grandma</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59730;left:108">Grandma was an Alzheimer’s case. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59751;left:108">I sat with her all night in November, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59773;left:108">When she called on the phone, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59794;left:108">And her voice shook with the jitter of Coke. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59836;left:108">Grandma only drank Coca-Cola, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59858;left:108">She only wore big-wool coats, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59879;left:108">And managed her life, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59900;left:108">From the telephone, And a taxi-cab. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59943;left:108">Grandma was a Black Operative, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59964;left:108">And she knew all the people, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:59985;left:108">On the street in the Falls, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60006;left:108">And the Banks. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60049;left:108">She was always looking out for me, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60070;left:108">And introducing me to the older ones, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60091;left:108">And keeping me out of trouble, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60112;left:108">By tucking a one dollar bill into my hand. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60155;left:108">She said to keep them in the bed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60176;left:108">Hide them under the mattress, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60197;left:108">Because, that way the crooks would </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60219;left:108">Never take it away. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60261;left:108">Now she’s in a good place, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60282;left:108">Where they bring her decent food, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60304;left:108">And she talks to people, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60325;left:108">Rather than bank tellers. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60763;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_52"><b>Page 52</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60876;left:108">Jumbo Pop</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60918;left:108">We talked about connections, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60939;left:108">At the grocery store, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60961;left:108">And how the mob closed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:60982;left:108">The bar I used to work for. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61024;left:108">And my uncle, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61046;left:108">He picked up a pack of Jumbo Pop, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61067;left:108">And bought me a Wall Street Journal, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61088;left:108">Because he said that reading was great to be into. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61131;left:108">I was in a Big Green coat that day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61152;left:108">And he knew I was more than green, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61173;left:108">In fact, The Jumbo Pop was in a blue package, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61194;left:108">And he paid for it with a fifty.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61237;left:108">The assistant manager was notified, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61258;left:108">And he checked the bill, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61279;left:108">While I noticed my sister had a “friend” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61300;left:108">Working at another register. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61343;left:108">While we drove back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61364;left:108">For Thanksgiving dinner, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61385;left:108">I kept thinking, he’s going to save Grandma, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61407;left:108">And fix up her house. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61449;left:108">My uncle did more than that, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61470;left:108">He took me to an Al Pacino film, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61492;left:108">Before he left for Washington, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61513;left:108">And I told him, About my theory on Oklahoma City. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:61951;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_53"><b>Page 53</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62064;left:108">The American Irish Republican Army</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62106;left:108">A fat blond chess player, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62127;left:108">Alcoholic, and Scotch whiskey drinker, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62149;left:108">This other Irishman, Called Black Fourty Seven, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62170;left:108">Who had a Long Shoreman’s card, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62212;left:108">Told me at the cafe’ </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62234;left:108">Within a day after the bomb, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62255;left:108">That I ought to know who I was speaking with, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62276;left:108">When I made comments about the military. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62319;left:108">It would seem fitting,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62340;left:108">That we would discover, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62361;left:108">That McNicols was from Sanborn. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62382;left:108">I thought better than to re-approach the idea there. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62425;left:108">They hassled me all summer,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62446;left:108">He and a “friend” In ninety-five, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62467;left:108">While I drank coffee, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62488;left:108">About my car, How they needed to borrow it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62531;left:108">And they kept trying to bet me a nickel, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62552;left:108">On a game of pinball, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62573;left:108">And they weren’t talking about Mary Jane, or her sisters, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62595;left:108">And they wouldn’t agree on the term of “five-cents.” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62637;left:108">The two of them were interesting that summer,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62658;left:108">Before Jinx had come back, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62680;left:108">And before Boston, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:62701;left:108">Because they got me cheap beer, and places to crash. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63139;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_54"><b>Page 54</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63252;left:108">Quitting Sony</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63294;left:108">On the way to Boston, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63315;left:108">I dropped off my headset, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63337;left:108">And a printed letter,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63358;left:108">To each department head. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63400;left:108">I was quitting Sony, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63422;left:108">And telling Michael Eisner to find another sucker to screw. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63443;left:108">Disney Interactive designed the worst software on earth, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63464;left:108">In Nineteen Ninety Four. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63507;left:108">My job had been to fix it, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63528;left:108">For a hundredth of what it had been worth. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63549;left:108">I liked the people I talked to. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63570;left:108">Michael Eisner had fucked the company.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63613;left:108">There is no way,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63634;left:108">To get ahead, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63655;left:108">On fourteen hours of work per week, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63676;left:108">And Michael Eisner, I handed you the bucket of brains you wasted. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63719;left:108">I made sure my own weren’t in there, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63740;left:108">And I know that Takahashi was smart enough, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63761;left:108">To know that we were smart enough, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63783;left:108">To take the dive, Moving to the Atlantic. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63825;left:108">Next Time I’ll be looking for Ed Asner, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63846;left:108">And Fred Astaire, And someone young, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63868;left:108">Like Val Kilmer,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:63889;left:108">Who knows the Score. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64327;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_55"><b>Page 55</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64440;left:108">Black Fourty Seven </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64482;left:108">Black Fourty Seven drove me home, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64503;left:108">In my car, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64525;left:108">I was too drunk to walk, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64546;left:108">And the party was at his place. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64588;left:108">He wanted to make sure I didn’t kill anyone, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64610;left:108">While driving the Eisenhower thruway,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64631;left:108">And the party was atomic, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64652;left:108">With The Jesus And Mary Chain. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64695;left:108">We drank more there, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64716;left:108">With Chaos, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64737;left:108">A ripped nightclub security, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64758;left:108">And Lady Japan and her Chip. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64801;left:108">I went to lay down after a round, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64822;left:108">On Black Fourty Seven’s bed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64843;left:108">And soon made my way,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64864;left:108">To the bathroom. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64907;left:108">The toilet had slimy rounded edges, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64928;left:108">And when I looked up after, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64949;left:108">At the shower, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:64971;left:108">I could tell that the place was no paradise. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65013;left:108">Black Fourty Seven got a bottle of Jack, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65034;left:108">That I delivered to his brother, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65056;left:108">Another Clive Barker, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65077;left:108">The next afternoon. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65515;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_56"><b>Page 56</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65628;left:108">Chip</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65670;left:108">Chip sucked his thumb a lot, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65691;left:108">He was the “friend” after the car, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65713;left:108">His front tooth was chipped, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65734;left:108">And he was a Cafe’ clerk. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65776;left:108">Chip said he owed a black man money,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65798;left:108">And he wanted the Shadow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65819;left:108">To make Three Thousand, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65840;left:108">In two days. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65883;left:108">I had to start inking out the line. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65904;left:108">The car didn’t belong to me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65925;left:108">It was my dad’s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:65946;left:108">And he’s ex-Navy.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:66703;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_57"><b>Page 57</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:66816;left:108">Dad</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:66858;left:108">I made my dad out for them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:66879;left:108">He was a dick, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:66901;left:108">and he didn’t like people, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:66922;left:108">and I was lucky he liked me. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:66964;left:108">He was actually his Brother, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:66986;left:108">The man from Washington, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67007;left:108">Except a little more reserved. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67028;left:108">He almost went to Viet Nam, on a boat. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67071;left:108">He said the chances were lower, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67092;left:108">Of getting shot, On a boat. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67113;left:108">And since he didn’t go, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67134;left:108">He must have been right. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67177;left:108">There are three others total,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67198;left:108">Including Uncle Jumbo Pop, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67219;left:108">One is an Army historian, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67240;left:108">The other retired Airforce. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67283;left:108">My Dad is very stable, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67304;left:108">And I remembered when I lied to Chip, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67325;left:108">That he was a teacher, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67347;left:108">For Naval Fire School. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:67891;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_58"><b>Page 58</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68004;left:108">Ellis Island</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68046;left:108">During the summer,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68067;left:108">The green statue on Ellis Island, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68089;left:108">Waves the torch, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68110;left:108">Above the harbor. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68152;left:108">She was copper once, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68174;left:108">A gift from the French, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68195;left:108">And now Iacocca, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68216;left:108">Has repaired her. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68259;left:108">I bought my dad his first Iacocca, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68280;left:108">The book about the Chrysler turn around, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68301;left:108">And I think he read the second one, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68322;left:108">When I left it in the bathroom. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68365;left:108">We talked in the snow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68386;left:108">In December, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68407;left:108">Just before the war, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:68428;left:108">About Ellis Island, And the Olympic Games. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69079;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_59"><b>Page 59</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69192;left:108">Swatches</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69234;left:108">In Boston, I was on the subway, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69255;left:108">I was reading Windows Ninety Five For Dummies. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69277;left:108">As we headed downtown at seven in the morning,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69298;left:108">Two Japanese Stepped onto my car. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69340;left:108">I looked up at a Gucci watch, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69362;left:108">They were getting off at Harvard, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69383;left:108">I knew they had a briefcase full of job offers. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69404;left:108">The ride was to an interview. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69447;left:108">I got off at City Hall, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69468;left:108">And walked across the cement patio, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69489;left:108">To the steps to South Market, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69510;left:108">And waited to see a woman. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69553;left:108">She was from Buffalo, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69574;left:108">And she set me up with a job, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69595;left:108">After a typing test, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69616;left:108">And fifteen minutes of talk. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69659;left:108">On the ride back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69680;left:108">I saw the poster,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69701;left:108">Of a watch, on a fence link-chain, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69723;left:108">An Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69765;left:108">When I got back to Niagara, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69786;left:108">I bought two, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69808;left:108">And an extra battery, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69829;left:108">From a nice older jewelry saleswoman. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69871;left:113">I tried to sell one, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69893;left:108">A week later,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69914;left:108">To Black Fourty Seven’s “friend,” </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69935;left:108">But Chip wanted it too cheap. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69978;left:108">One was silver, and grey-faced, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:69999;left:108">And another, Black, and silver cut. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:70020;left:108">You can see the gears inside, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:70041;left:108">The six-point star, and hear it ticking. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:70267;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_60"><b>Page 60</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:70380;left:108">I had one with copper cuttings, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:70401;left:108">At the beginning of Chicago, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:70422;left:108">It was purchased in a Mall,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:70443;left:108">In Toledo, Because I’d left the Timex.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71455;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_61"><b>Page 61</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71568;left:108">Chicago</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71610;left:108">I left Chicago the year I arrived, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71631;left:108">In December, while snow grew, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71653;left:108">from the sidewalk. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71674;left:108">It took time, to pack the car. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71716;left:108">I could have stayed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71738;left:108">My fiancé drew me back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71759;left:108">I couldn’t not know my future wife, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71780;left:108">But her Mother wrecked her when I’d gone. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71823;left:108">My part of Chicago was cold, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71844;left:108">The buildings were all Albany grey, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71865;left:108">And the floors all black tiled, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71886;left:108">Squeeked with wet sneakers, all season. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71929;left:108">I was a fraternal freshman, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71950;left:108">And our house, the largest, was amazing.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71971;left:108">We had water wars, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:71992;left:108">And beach volleyball.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72035;left:108">We were rocking scientists, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72056;left:108">Listening to the Killer-B, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72077;left:108">And making Nirvanah, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72099;left:108">Smell like teen spirit. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72141;left:108">We had three rectangled floors, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72162;left:108">And a basement. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72184;left:108">We had a Halloween party,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72205;left:108">And learned to practice safe sex.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72247;left:108">We were Dr. Seuss fraternity, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72269;left:108">With one named Larry, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72290;left:108">Who Re-Wrote the classic, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72311;left:108">And called it “Drunk-Man I Am.” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72354;left:108">And Drunk Man I was, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72375;left:108">With a mouthful of Whiskey Sour, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72396;left:108">In a motorcycler’s room, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72417;left:108">Every other night. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72643;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_62"><b>Page 62</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72756;left:108">We carried each other to tests a lot,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72777;left:108">I remember crossing the busy street, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72798;left:108">At eight forty five, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72819;left:108">And getting a seventy, in Calculus. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72862;left:108">The first time I shaved my head, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72883;left:108">I was sober. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72904;left:108">I was an Industrial Musician, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72926;left:108">Convening with the likes of Jourgenson. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72968;left:108">I went to Wax Trax once with a Plastic Man. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:72989;left:108">His art was Plexiglass, And tissue paper, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73011;left:108">And he and Morrison, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73032;left:108">Spent time On The Other Side. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73074;left:108">My designer roomate, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73095;left:108">Had suspended my bed from the ceiling,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73117;left:108">With a single concrete screw, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73138;left:108">And a thin wood bar. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73180;left:108">It came crashing down, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73202;left:108">The day after her visit. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73223;left:108">His weak design, almost killed us both, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73244;left:108">When the wood sunk into his designer mattress. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73287;left:108">I finished my time there,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73308;left:108">In a private room, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73329;left:108">In a cubby hole under the raised floor, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73350;left:108">And dreamed of her at night. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73831;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_63"><b>Page 63</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73944;left:108">Larry</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:73986;left:108">Larry is an Italian Architect now. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74007;left:108">He made it out, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74029;left:108">And continued through graduate school. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74050;left:108">They made him an officer, of the house. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74092;left:108">Larry and I talked about Celtic Prose, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74114;left:108">And he explained why he hated his real name, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74135;left:108">And taught me about Archetypes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74156;left:108">And Greek Jesters in his Literature. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74199;left:108">Larry and I went to Medusa’s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74220;left:108">An art club, With music and noise, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74241;left:108">And Front 242, from Germany,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:74262;left:108">Fueled the open theater. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75019;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_64"><b>Page 64</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75132;left:108">Plastic Man</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75174;left:108">The Plastic Man is a music collector. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75195;left:108">He had gone to art school. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75217;left:108">He insisted that the next big band, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75238;left:108">Was called Smashing Pumpkins. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75280;left:108">I didn’t believe him. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75302;left:108">I told him that I didn’t like Haloween, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75323;left:108">And I explained the story Clearly, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75344;left:108">About the suggested murder of a turtle. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75387;left:108">He ordered lots of compact disks, as Benjamin Franklin </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75408;left:108">From Columbia House, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75429;left:108">And BMG, and every other club. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:75450;left:108">They delivered them regularly to the non-existant fourth floor. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76207;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_65"><b>Page 65</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76320;left:108">Standard Love Story</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76362;left:108">She pulled me inside her, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76383;left:108">Naked, on her sister’s bed. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76405;left:108">In her mother’s room, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76426;left:108">And under the shower curtain. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76468;left:108">Those were our first times, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76490;left:108">On the first day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76511;left:108">That her mother left for Ohio. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76532;left:108">There was a twist.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76575;left:108">We’d been playing for a month, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76596;left:108">And I hadn’t expected her, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76617;left:108">To let me hug her chest to chest, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76638;left:108">Watching cartoons. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76681;left:108">The summer before Chicago, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76702;left:108">We knew I would be leaving,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76723;left:108">But we had to know our Prom meant something,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76744;left:108">Two hundred dollars worth of gold and diamond. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76787;left:108">My living room floor was quite healthy,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76808;left:108">A light blue rug, and a nice comforter, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76829;left:108">And of course, the television, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76851;left:108">We never slept, there was no reason for her leaving.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76893;left:108">And then it crashed when I came back, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76914;left:108">And I wasn’t a smart boy anymore, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76936;left:108">With a shaved head, and plans for Buffalo, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76957;left:108">Another idiot concert freak. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:76999;left:108">Thank you dear Mother-In-Law, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77021;left:108">I’ve learned that sex can be better, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77042;left:108">And you knew all along, That she was a Burger King girl, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77063;left:108">Because you made her. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77395;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_66"><b>Page 66</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77508;left:108">Onyx Pickups</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77550;left:108">The Onyx Pickups started showing up in December. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77571;left:108">They appeared first on Television, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77593;left:108">Launching through mid-air. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77614;left:108">And next I saw them following me. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77656;left:108">Dodge was moving them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77678;left:108">Faster than lightning, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77699;left:108">Propelling them over snowy hills, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77720;left:108">Coated with micro-fine-print lease rates. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77763;left:108">I determined, through a series of assumptions, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77784;left:108">And past envisionments created by film, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77805;left:108">That they were driven, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77826;left:108">By Agents of the Government. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77869;left:108">The Onyx Pickups weren’t inexpensive. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77890;left:108">It could only benefit the economy,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77911;left:108">To effectively protect, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77932;left:108">The Nation’s Future Leader. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77975;left:108">I watched them fall into line one night, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:77996;left:108">Driving down Main Street, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78017;left:108">Pulling out from different perpendicular streets, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78039;left:108">Ahead of me, And behind me. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78081;left:108">I was giving them a test run, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78102;left:108">By wearing my sunglasses, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78124;left:108">To pick up a copy of the Journal, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78145;left:108">At the Supermarket. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78187;left:108">The agents in the trucks spoke without words. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78209;left:108">They didn’t need cell-phones. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78230;left:108">They didn’t need CB’s. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78251;left:108">They would listen for Alice In Chains on FM radio. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78294;left:108">The idea wasn’t very complex.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78315;left:108">They had been watching me, since Chicago. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78336;left:108">All they had to do, to find out my station, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78357;left:108">Was flip to the ones that didn’t static out, on their custom tuners. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78583;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_67"><b>Page 67</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78696;left:108">Whenever I put my sunglasses on, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78717;left:108">Alice and Chains would play. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78738;left:108">And if I put on my readers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78759;left:108">The Onyx Pickups would be gone within minutes. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78802;left:108">In this way I tested them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78823;left:108">A couple of times over vacation, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78844;left:108">Only at night. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:78866;left:108">Sometimes Police Cars joined them. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:79771;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_68"><b>Page 68</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:79884;left:108">Agents of the Government</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:79926;left:108">There are several types of agents, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:79947;left:108">Agents of the Government, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:79969;left:108">In my realm of perception. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:79990;left:108">Some you see, Others, Just exist. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80032;left:108">You easily spot the secret service, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80054;left:108">They jog with the President, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80075;left:108">In red, white, and blue, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80096;left:108">With thin light grey lenses. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80139;left:108">Others have darker sunglasses, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80160;left:108">And they wear black suits, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80181;left:108">And run alongside his limousine, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80202;left:108">And look hyper-pro, in the sunlight. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80245;left:108">Others just show their eyes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80266;left:108">Wiggling them up and down fast in their sockets, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80287;left:108">They’re Mercs, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80308;left:108">And they instantly assess, miles of terrain. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80351;left:108">The Mercs deserve a special note, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80372;left:108">They do a sweep on request, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80393;left:108">Of a building entered, by the important. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80415;left:108">Many have grey hair, but look younger than twenty. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80457;left:108">The “friends” do not get mention here. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80478;left:108">They are non-existant. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80500;left:108">Try to pin a “friend” down, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80521;left:108">And a “friend” will vanish, to even the air.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80563;left:108">Each of these has a secret horror to cope with. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80585;left:108">Each of these has an undefinable cost, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80606;left:108">And Each of these Agents of the Government, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80627;left:108">Has sculpted talent for service. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80648;left:108">In all of it’s gruesome form. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:80959;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_69"><b>Page 69</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81072;left:108">The Warlord</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81114;left:108">The Warlord was huge, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81135;left:108">She was an old Communist, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81157;left:108">Driving in a big dusty, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81178;left:108">A black Buick Skylark, Limited Edition. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81220;left:108">I met with her council, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81242;left:108">On the bridge once, Sitting in a circle, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81263;left:108">And they had Old General’s Eyes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81284;left:108">And wore heavy coats. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81327;left:108">I told them I’d be running for president, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81348;left:108">But I didn’t tell them when. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81369;left:108">They looked at me in the green coat, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81390;left:108">And thought to themselves. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81433;left:108">We went to Rite Aid one afternoon, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81454;left:108">A new building on Military, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81475;left:108">And the new signs inside, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81496;left:108">Reminded me of an airport terminal. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81539;left:108">The Warlord showed me her cafe’, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81560;left:108">And I had a Diablo Omlette. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81581;left:108">We paid the Sweetheart Waitress, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:81603;left:108">And I smiled at her, and arranged her marriage.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82147;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_70"><b>Page 70</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82260;left:108">The Sweetheart Waitress</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82302;left:108">This girl knew what the profession was about. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82323;left:108">She smiled at me three times, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82345;left:108">And I knew that she was Catholic, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82366;left:108">A red guard, with a hard philosophy. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82408;left:108">She had medium long black hair, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82430;left:108">And brown eyes, that looked down her nose, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82451;left:108">She wore no glasses, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82472;left:108">And I could see her bra. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82515;left:108">It showed lightly through the white shirt, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82536;left:108">At the pancake house, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82557;left:108">I knew that it was her style, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82578;left:108">Not some strange accident. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82621;left:108">That was the first time she smiled. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82642;left:108">On the second, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82663;left:108">She leaned over to hand me my eggs. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82684;left:108">She knew that The Warlord was watching us. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82727;left:108">We were flirting like teenagers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82748;left:108">Something we wouldn’t have done, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82769;left:108">If The Warlord hadn’t been there. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82791;left:108">And she kept my coffee hot. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82833;left:108">It was a war-torn smile she had, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82854;left:108">When she came back for refills, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82876;left:108">With the sweat of the kitchen on her brow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82897;left:108">And she asked, “Don’t we know each other?”, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:82918;left:108">without saying a word. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83335;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_71"><b>Page 71</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83448;left:108">The English Church</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83490;left:108">I went with the Warlord, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83511;left:108">To the Big English Church, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83533;left:108">To start the Holy War,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83554;left:108">On Christmas. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83596;left:108">I’d been to three churches that day,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83618;left:108">At each, There’d been a different note played, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83639;left:108">Of the same Ancient hymn, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83660;left:108">That we heard on the Pipes, that evening.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83703;left:108">The stain glassed windows, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83724;left:108">Showed their colors only in shades of grey, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83745;left:108">And their shapes were no longer biblical, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83766;left:108">I pictured the crusades, in their fuzzy night-time look. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83809;left:108">There was an Operative there, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83830;left:108">In a long Red Jacket, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83851;left:108">With black lips, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83872;left:108">And purple under her eyes. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83915;left:108">She looked degenerate, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83936;left:108">And I was sad to say I knew her. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83957;left:108">She was one of the people who harassed Grandma, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:83979;left:108">Because I heard her talk about her once. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84523;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_72"><b>Page 72</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84636;left:108">Red Jacket</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84678;left:108">The red coat, or Jacket, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84699;left:108">Was worn by a blond woman, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84721;left:108">She was twenty, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84742;left:108">And gruesome. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84784;left:108">I could picture her lying nude, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84806;left:108">On a bed of Pointsettias, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84827;left:108">Spreading to get anyone, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84848;left:108">To drink their juice. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84891;left:108">She was an unregistered lethal weapon, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84912;left:108">Of X culture, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84933;left:108">Armed with bayonets for fingernails, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84954;left:108">And poison lipstick. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:84997;left:108">I met her with a younger one, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85018;left:108">Who was far from thin, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85039;left:108">And there had been, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85060;left:108">Mary Jane in the ashtray.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85103;left:108">There wasn’t any reason to talk, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85124;left:108">After I’d heard the story about the cat-lady,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85145;left:108">That crazy old grandmother, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85167;left:108">And her boyfriend, The Hipster. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85209;left:108">Now she’s a Black Widow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85230;left:108">Everyone knows it, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85252;left:108">And maybe she’ll quit the free agency, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85273;left:108">And start understanding the messages, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85294;left:108">Start getting with the program. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85711;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_73"><b>Page 73</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85824;left:108">The Hipster</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85866;left:108">The hipster had a big white ghetto sled, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85887;left:108">He dropped Grandma off once, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85909;left:108">A while ago. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85930;left:108">I was busy working problems. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85972;left:108">I told him thank you, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:85994;left:108">And she gave him five dollars, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:86015;left:108">And he smiled at me through his long hair, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:86036;left:108">And lit up a cigarette. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:86079;left:108">When he pulled out of the driveway, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:86100;left:108">I remembered him in a Tesla shirt, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:86121;left:108">One of the rockers at High School, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:86142;left:108">And how I’d never known him, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:86163;left:108">To do anything in particular. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:86899;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_74"><b>Page 74</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87012;left:108">Happy New Year</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87054;left:108">Tigger threw a new year’s party,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87075;left:108">With red candles, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87097;left:108">And Blue and White Dresses, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87118;left:108">At his cottage, under the escarpment. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87160;left:108">We ate shrimp, with sauce, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87182;left:108">And vegetables, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87203;left:108">And Played Taboo, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87224;left:108">And a lot of people showed. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87267;left:108">Nickel, Lucy, Babbage, Stacey, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87288;left:108">And The Forester, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87309;left:108">And Nikita and Case, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87330;left:108">Ghandi’s Daugther and her cousin. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87373;left:108">Lucy and Tigger get it on. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87394;left:108">They like Stacy, Babbage, and The Forester. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87415;left:108">They all gave each other Christmas presents, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87436;left:108">At the last Party.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87479;left:108">They did me the favor, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87500;left:108">Of picking up some wine with no kick, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87521;left:108">Because I’d straightened out, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87543;left:108">And I was proud of it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87585;left:108">I told them about the postcard, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87606;left:108">From Mr. Ohio, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87628;left:108">And they said they’d gotten them too, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87649;left:108">And we talked about Henry Rollins. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87691;left:108">After the others left, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87713;left:108">Lucy and Tigger got me a nice blanket, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87734;left:108">And I wrapped myself into the folding couch, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87755;left:108">Before the fire of the television. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87798;left:108">When I woke up, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87819;left:108">There were Bannanas In Pajamas, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87840;left:108">Playing on the beach, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:87861;left:108">With Teddy Bears. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88087;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_75"><b>Page 75</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88200;left:108">Mr. Ohio</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88242;left:108">Mr. Ohio is a “friend,” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88263;left:108">He has a brother also, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88285;left:108">But I’ll get to him, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88306;left:108">soon enough. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88348;left:108">The postcard arrived, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88370;left:108">Mail-marked from Costa Rica,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88391;left:108">On the same day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88412;left:108">That Kennedy rescued a Hispanic. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88455;left:108">She pulled him out of the fields, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88476;left:108">Of a work commune, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88497;left:108">And put him on the back, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88518;left:108">Of her moped. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88561;left:108">Mr. Ohio is a Kung Fu expert, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88582;left:108">He ripped the card off of a cereal box, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88603;left:108">And mailed it back to the U.S. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88624;left:108">To me, And I got the message. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88667;left:108">Mr. Ohio was coming back. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88688;left:108">And “Yeeeeeeeeahhhh Boyee” </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88709;left:108">He was coming back. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:88731;left:108">We were going to party, Mr. Ohio and I.</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89275;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_76"><b>Page 76</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89388;left:108">Tick</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89430;left:108">The night after the biker war, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89451;left:108">Tick walked into the cafe’, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89473;left:108">And asked to borrow the table, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89494;left:108">That I’d been sitting at. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89536;left:108">It was post-Christmas. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89558;left:108">He set down his helmet, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89579;left:108">And pulled his black Jacket back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89600;left:108">To reach into the inner pocket.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89643;left:108">His face was all scarred up, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89664;left:108">And his leather was coated with old punk, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89685;left:108">The torn T-shirt near the pocket, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89706;left:108">Had the skull of The Exploited spiking out. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89749;left:108">I caught his night glow Timex,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89770;left:108">Just like Uncle Jumbo Pop’s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89791;left:108">And I knew why he was there, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89812;left:108">With a chemical liquid, in a balloon. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89855;left:108">He making sure it had held, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89876;left:108">It hadn’t broken under his arm. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89897;left:108">He was saving it for the set up scene, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89919;left:108">Where at least sixty death certificates, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89940;left:108">Would be issued. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:89982;left:108">“They were all my friends, and they died.” </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:90463;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_77"><b>Page 77</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="4" face="Times"><span style="font-size:28px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:90923;left:316">The Tail of The Dragon </div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:19px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:90955;left:281">Concluding the first year of the Millenium</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91003;left:351">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91076;left:282">Completed December 31, 2000 12:25 AM </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91651;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_78"><b>Page 78</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91762;left:135">An Afternoon Out Alone </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91780;left:135">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91797;left:135">8/9/00 10:46:16 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91831;left:135">Today I spent an afternoon out, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91849;left:135">Drove my Saturn to the Cafe&#39; </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91866;left:135">Through the beginning of a Thunderstorm,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91883;left:135">And waited in line for a restroom.. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91917;left:135">I ordered a Mocha, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91935;left:135">And sat down, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91952;left:135">Delighted to encounter an old friend, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:91969;left:135">A Bag Maker who&#39;d survived a heart attack. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92004;left:135">He had been playing chess,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92021;left:135">With an African and maybe an Arabian,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92038;left:135">At the place I call the Spot, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92056;left:135">As many others do... </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92090;left:135">We talked in the ferocious rain, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92107;left:135">On the patio, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92124;left:135">Where he told me about his implant, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92142;left:135">And we discussed the merits of American Health. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92176;left:135">I knew he needed transportation, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92194;left:135">So I gave him a quick ride back to Allen,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92211;left:135">And then circled around back to Elmwood Avenue, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92228;left:135">And drove all the way up the well lit strip to the theater. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92263;left:135">I watched the Coyote Ugly, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92280;left:135">After being harassed by the nameless ticket seller, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92297;left:135">Who wasn&#39;t fond of the film, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92314;left:135">Which turned out to be a great deal better than I had expected. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92349;left:135">I drove up Delaware on the way home, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92366;left:135">And cut over Sheridan to the Boulevard, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92383;left:135">To stop at my favorite bookstore, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92401;left:135">To buy a copy of this morning&#39;s Wall Street Journal.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92435;left:135">Then with the fifty cents in my pocket, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92452;left:135">I decided to take the express way home, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92470;left:135">and make it an early night, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92487;left:135">So that I could write this poem.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92521;left:135">While my father and brother watched Toy Story on Video Cassette. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92538;left:135">And my sister, kept me from the Internet for a minute, long enough.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92839;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_79"><b>Page 79</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92950;left:135">Electronic Music Workshop </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92968;left:135">Dedicated to Bernard Pasquintino, Chris Udy, Mark Traine, Rob Brown, Craig Hyla, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:92985;left:135">Paula Bucelato, Paul Wos, the Jazz musicians of The Niagara Falls High School Band, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93002;left:135">and my fellow students. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93019;left:135">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93037;left:135">4/8/00 6:20:00 AM</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93071;left:135">Where was I at the beginning of it all?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93088;left:135">The era of direct to analog?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93105;left:135">Sample, to Sequence, to Four Track... </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93123;left:135">Staring at a catalog for a Fairlight... </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93157;left:135">I Bombed into the studio running,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93175;left:135">With barely a wit about me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93192;left:135">Just knowing that I could do it,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93209;left:135">I could be my own Peter Gabriel.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93244;left:135">How could Paula in homeroom know she&#39;d changed my life, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93261;left:135">By showing me the album cover, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93278;left:135">for Depeche Mode 101, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93295;left:135">the one I&#39;d kept seeing on Hyla&#39;s shirt,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93312;left:135">As he walked down the hallway with Severely Spiked Hair.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93347;left:135">Two weeks and I was figuring out the ESQ-1, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93364;left:135">Popping beats out on the TR-404. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93382;left:135">Four weeks and I was setting MIDI channels,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93399;left:135">and linking up to the ROLAND S10.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93433;left:135">Multi-Channel Sequencing,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93451;left:135">Multiple Instruments, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93468;left:135">32 channels of bliss,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93485;left:135">In a four walled dirty white room, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93502;left:135">With posters on the ceiling.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93537;left:135">I locked myself in for study hall, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93554;left:135">And came out with a disk full of composition,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93571;left:135">Suddenly there was a new toy in my own room,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93589;left:135">The Ensoniq Performance Sampler. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93623;left:135">And at the end of the year, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93640;left:135">My &quot;Guitar Trio in C Harmonic Minor&quot;, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93658;left:135">Came out on 100 cassettes,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93675;left:135">Along with Pasquintino&#39;s </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93692;left:135">&quot;Mary Had a Little Scarecrow&quot;</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93709;left:135">And so many others, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93726;left:135">that the titles are a blur. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93761;left:135">The Auditorium blacked out during the </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93778;left:135">1989 Homecoming Rally,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93795;left:135">And Sal danced in an Indian Headdress,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93813;left:135">Made of Construction paper feathers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93830;left:135">While the band played. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93847;left:135">Traine with his Guitar and Pedals, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93865;left:135">Udy with the Sequencers and Drum Machines, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93882;left:135">And Bernie masterfully fingering the black and white plastic, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:93899;left:135">whipped us all into a frenzy. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94027;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_80"><b>Page 80</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94156;left:135">The three of them won a Casio synth,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94173;left:135">and several other instruments for the workshop, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94190;left:135">After a battle of electronica, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94207;left:135">in New York City. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94242;left:135">We had some fun at Christmas that year, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94259;left:135">in The Wintergarden, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94276;left:135">Playing our Multi-Layered tunes for, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94293;left:135">A small, but possibly international audience, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94311;left:135">that included TJ Insana, who would later become Jesus,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94328;left:135">At least for 3 shows. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94363;left:135">I started getting Rob Into it, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94380;left:135">and by 1990 he had an Ensoniq board too,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94397;left:135">And we slammed some tracks together for</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94414;left:135">Class Day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94432;left:135">and snapped sticks against drumpads, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94449;left:135">to trigger Orchastra Hits. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94483;left:135">Rob went into the Marines, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94500;left:135">and By College I was striking my own keys.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94518;left:135">But those stories are for prose,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94535;left:135">And for what you can find from the music,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94570;left:135">Because the music is really all there is, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94587;left:135">The rest is just settings for cracked actors,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94604;left:135">And the life of the sound, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94621;left:135">Comes from the people who craft it, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94656;left:135">Even if they are only somewhat famous children,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94673;left:135">in a world,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94690;left:135">that only sees</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:94707;left:135">through cathode ray static. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95215;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_81"><b>Page 81</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95326;left:135">Driver&#39;s Education</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95344;left:135">Dedicated to Niagara Catholic High School </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95361;left:135">by Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95395;left:135">I can&#39;t remember how much it cost, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95413;left:135">or quite what I was up to that summer, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95430;left:135">but in 1988 I attended driver&#39;s education,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95447;left:135">and drove my first new car. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95481;left:135">Of course the car wasn&#39;t mine,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95499;left:135">It was leased to the school, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95516;left:135">A nice large Buick LeSabre, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95533;left:135">with Air Conditioning. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95568;left:135">I learned all kinds of road signs,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95585;left:135">and accident statistics,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95602;left:135">And talked a lot to a shy girl named Amy,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95620;left:135">who I had worked with for the school in eighty seven.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95654;left:135">It was a privilage to learn to drive, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95671;left:135">and tour a vehicle, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95688;left:135">around the back streets off of,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95706;left:135">Cayuga drive.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95740;left:135">And pull onto an expressway,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95758;left:135">for the first time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95775;left:135">confident that I would find the,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95792;left:135">freedom of the road, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95809;left:135">at every slight maneuver, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95827;left:135">through the time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:95844;left:135">of my life. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96403;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_82"><b>Page 82</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96514;left:135">Homecoming Crash</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96532;left:135">Dedicated to Isaac Panzarella </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96549;left:135">and Charlene Scozzafava</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96566;left:135">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96583;left:135">4/8/00 4:08:26 AM</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96618;left:135">It was too real that night, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96635;left:135">the night we left the dance, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96652;left:135">the first night I ever thought, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96669;left:135">I was going to make things happen.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96704;left:135">We had plans to get hammered.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96721;left:135">It was if the gymnasium had been lacking,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96739;left:135">in all of its fanfare that year, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96756;left:135">except for the fact that I had danced with a girl. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96790;left:135">She had short curling hair,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96808;left:135">Together we had learned to speak and write Japanese, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96825;left:135">Doitachmaschte, and Sayonara. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96842;left:135">Hiragana and Katakana.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96876;left:135">She wore a black dress,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96894;left:135">with a white rose wrist corsage. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96911;left:135">I wore my white suit with black pinstripes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96928;left:135">and her floral adornment.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96963;left:135">They played one or two songs that defined the time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96980;left:135">Information Society - Pure Energy, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:96997;left:135">And we danced to everything slow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97015;left:135">Titles I can&#39;t remember : Except for Stairway to Heaven. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97049;left:135">So we left together, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97066;left:135">and climbed into Mom and Dad&#39;s red wagon,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97083;left:135">and slowly pulled onto Portage. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97101;left:135">I took Ferry and decided to follow 16</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="2" face="Times"><span style="font-size:7px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97097;left:360">th</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97101;left:371">back to Pine. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97135;left:135">That&#39;s when the laughing started, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97153;left:135">A slightly intoxicated laughter broke through the back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97170;left:135">And as I turned to see what was happening,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97187;left:135">The shadows crept over the stop sign at Walnut. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97222;left:135">So there we were, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97239;left:135">20 feet from clear of the other side of Walnut, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97256;left:135">And my foot finally hit the brake pedal.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97273;left:135">The car stopped. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97308;left:135">Terrors of twisted limbs massacred my neurons as I saw the light, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97325;left:135">Twin beams flashing toward us at 40 miles an hour. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97342;left:135">My foot wouldn&#39;t move.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97359;left:135">And then Fender contacted Axle. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97394;left:135">Everything was in motion,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97411;left:135">Welcome to the Jungle, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97429;left:135">But somehow, we just bounced left, and stopped, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97446;left:135">And everyone was still uniform. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97591;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_83"><b>Page 83</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97720;left:135">There were flashing lights before I could open my door, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97737;left:135">A man with a hat a flashlight and a Gun,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97754;left:135">I got out and talked with him,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97771;left:135">I had checked to make sure we were all ok. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97806;left:135">It was a man who lived on my paper route, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97823;left:135">He asked me if I had been drinking, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97840;left:135">I said no, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97857;left:135">And he wrote me a ticket for failing to yield right of way.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97892;left:135">The other driver had been speeding,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97909;left:135">and he had been following her, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97927;left:135">Just our luck right?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97944;left:135">Not Exactly. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97978;left:135">The Axle absorbed the massive force of the other car, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:97996;left:135">but it cost $800.00 to repair, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98013;left:135">I had to work it off that year, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98030;left:135">And Charlene seemed to vanish after Rob and Karen helped me get her home.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98064;left:135">Ike and I rode the bus for a couple of weeks,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98082;left:135">I&#39;m still not sure I&#39;m over it though, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98099;left:135">It&#39;s not exactly like bumping into that first telephone pole, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98116;left:135">It&#39;s something a little closer to Falling &quot;off target&quot; in Skydiver. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98779;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_84"><b>Page 84</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98890;left:135">End of Shift</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98908;left:135">By Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98925;left:135">12/7/00 10:55:39 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98959;left:135">Time to turn off the blenders, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98977;left:135">And the taps, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:98994;left:135">And the strobe lights,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99011;left:135">And close the doors.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99045;left:135">Time for the people to go away, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99063;left:135">To their parties, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99080;left:135">And homes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99097;left:135">And various places of rest. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99132;left:135">They called the bar almost an hour ago, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99149;left:135">And the last lingerers are making out with the staff,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99166;left:135">And looking for cab rides away, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99184;left:135">And counting how much money they have left in their wallets.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99218;left:135">We&#39;ve had a colossal night, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99235;left:135">And the ceilings have rained with the fire of laser beams,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99252;left:135">And the women have danced on the speakers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99270;left:135">And taken off their shirts.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99304;left:135">And the Go-Go dancers have gone,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99322;left:135">And the Inspectors have Inspected,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99339;left:135">And the Police have had drink with the People, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99356;left:135">And the Ambulances have carried the drunks away. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99391;left:135">And the DJ was like a Promethean God, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99408;left:135">With Rhythms and Tempos meshing on the fly,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99425;left:135">And even a few men have been given to the drunken folly,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99442;left:135">Of trying to follow a simple beat at 130. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99477;left:135">It is time to pack up the flyers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99494;left:135">And laminated cards, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99511;left:135">And clean out the Ice Bins, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99529;left:135">And pick up the shards. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99563;left:135">It&#39;s End of Shift now,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99580;left:135">And we&#39;re ready to go, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99598;left:135">We&#39;ll be open tomorrow,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99615;left:135">Through Rain, Hail, or Snow.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:99967;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_85"><b>Page 85</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100078;left:135">Roulette and Madame Zilch</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100096;left:135">By Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100113;left:135">12/7/00 11:35:08 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100130;left:135">Dedicated to the Roulette Players of the World and Scott Ansel </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100165;left:135">We called you Madame Zilch,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100182;left:135">Before the ball Rolled,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100199;left:135">And we were dead on, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100216;left:135">How could we have known.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100251;left:135">Your name was something Russian,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100268;left:135">And it sounded harsh,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100285;left:135">Just like the Zeros, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100303;left:135">You dealt us with panache.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100337;left:135">The wheel kept revolving,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100354;left:135">For a half hour or so,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100372;left:135">And we saw all of our numbers,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100389;left:135">And more pass go, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100406;left:135">But you kept striking Zero,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100423;left:135">And spoiling the show, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100458;left:135">Soon after a Double, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100475;left:135">And nothing to front, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100492;left:135">Which made us see trouble, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100510;left:135">And let&#39;s not be blunt. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100527;left:135">When you lose at Roulette, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:100561;left:135">It&#39;s not always bad luck.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101155;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_86"><b>Page 86</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101266;left:135">Lunches with Joe</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101284;left:135">By Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101301;left:135">1/17/00 5:48 AM</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101318;left:135">Dedicated to Joe Cronin</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101353;left:135">Joe lives a few blocks away, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101370;left:135">It seems at times that we are worlds apart. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101387;left:135">He has a job as a substitute teacher, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101404;left:135">At a school in Lewiston. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101439;left:135">We had lunch today,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101456;left:135">At a Chinese restaurant, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101473;left:135">That he introduced me to, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101491;left:135">A good while ago. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101525;left:135">I started having lunch with him,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101542;left:135">About 4 years ago, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101560;left:135">And we started remembering,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101577;left:135">What all of the times,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101594;left:135">We had lunch when we were six.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101628;left:135">Back then we ate Macaroni and Cheese, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101646;left:135">And watched cable television. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101663;left:135">After school we would play table hockey, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101680;left:135">In his basement.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101715;left:135">I remember a time, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101732;left:135">A very innocent time,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101749;left:135">When we played with plastic dinosaurs,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101767;left:135">In his bathtub. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101801;left:135">A few years from then,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101818;left:135">Joe had collected impressions,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101835;left:135">Of his favorite television personalities, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101853;left:135">And I was close by to record them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101870;left:135">On the tape recorder, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101887;left:135">That my mother bought for me my birthday. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101922;left:135">Joe got Piano lessons because I had them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101939;left:135">And I got a keyboard because Joe had one. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101956;left:135">We shared keyboard magazines,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101974;left:135">Every once in a while, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:101991;left:135">In seventh grade.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102025;left:135">Joe was living with his father, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102042;left:135">For most of high school, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102060;left:135">And I had a very vague Idea, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102077;left:135">Of where exactly that was, until just before I was leaving for college. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102111;left:135">A couple of years ago he gave me a hockey card, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102129;left:135">He had remembered that I had liked John LeClair somehow,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102146;left:135">From one of those conversations, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102163;left:135">Over a table of some kind of food. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102343;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_87"><b>Page 87</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102454;left:135">I don&#39;t know how we started seeing each other again for lunch,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102472;left:135">It was as if three years disappeared in a haze, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102489;left:135">But now it is nice when he calls, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102506;left:135">And I get to remember, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102523;left:135">That I did have one friend who stuck around,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:102541;left:135">Until this very day.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103531;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_88"><b>Page 88</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103642;left:135">Joe at George’s</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103660;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103677;left:135">7/26/00 7:25:27 PM </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103711;left:135">Joe takes me to George’s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103729;left:135">A new restaurant that used to be something else,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103746;left:135">And I am trying to be calm and forget the banking incident, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103763;left:135">That I most recently fell prey to. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103797;left:135">Things are interesting here, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103815;left:135">There is no one around, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103832;left:135">And he is reading the paper, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103849;left:135">Seeking out apartment possibilities. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103884;left:135">I am perplexed as to what to say.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103901;left:135">I am poor and it is more than obvious. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103918;left:135">I offer my last $3.00 for the tip. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103936;left:135">Someday this will all clear up.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:103970;left:135">It always does,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104004;left:135">It just keeps taking time. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104719;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_89"><b>Page 89</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104830;left:135">Chemistry 7</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104848;left:135">Dedicated to </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104865;left:135">Rich, Tanya, Scott, Smiley, Mark, Dante, and Alx</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104882;left:135">by Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104899;left:135">4/14/00 12:28:48 AM</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104934;left:135">December twenty third, nineteen ninety two,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104951;left:135">The end of my first year home from Chicago, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104968;left:135">First go at the Biz for myself, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:104985;left:135">I had only an inkling of what I was in for.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105020;left:135">Scott and I drove up to Tanya&#39;s early in the day,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105037;left:135">She lived a few streets down behind Yonge and Bay,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105055;left:135">In a large Red Brick apartment, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105072;left:135">With narrow staircases. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105089;left:135">Scott and I met some of her roomates, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105106;left:135">And then went for a walk to get Pizza and Change. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105124;left:135">It was a long walk across to Yonge on foot.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105141;left:135">And we encountered some interesting places along the way.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105175;left:135">Somehow weeks later I would find a highly liberal magazine, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105192;left:135">Dedicated to Angry Dykes,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105210;left:135">In the trunk of the Shadow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105227;left:135">I think we had thought it was amusing during our walk. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105244;left:135">We found a small Italian Restaurant,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105262;left:135">Had a slice or two and a soda, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105279;left:135">And then resumed until we found the Arcade. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105296;left:135">It was almost straight ahead when we got to Yonge. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105331;left:135">The vendor sold us neatly wrapped Loonies,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105348;left:135">and a bundle of red twos. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105365;left:135">We walked back, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105382;left:135">Barely aware of our own conversation.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105399;left:135">I was still in amazement at my luck, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105417;left:135">Sean had gone to Europe,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105434;left:135">and I was stuck with an exclusive party.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105451;left:135">It was as if the world had fallen into my lap.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105486;left:135">We snagged Tanya and had her walk us to the subway, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105503;left:135">and we met Rich the skater, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105520;left:135">David&#39;s friend,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105538;left:135">Soon to be the only sober one among us. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105572;left:135">We packed Tanya&#39;s boyfriend into the car with all of us, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105589;left:135">and stopped at a Mini-Mart to buy all of their Ice. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105606;left:135">The bags melted slowly all around my backseat passengers. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105624;left:135">And then we were on our way East, to the hidden warehouse.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105658;left:135">The structure was longer than I had imagined, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105675;left:135">but had a low ceiling. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105693;left:135">We walked along a Handicapped access ramp at about 9:20. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105710;left:135">And dragged the water and Ice behind us. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:105907;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_90"><b>Page 90</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106018;left:135">I dropped my bags in the entranceway when I saw it,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106036;left:135">It was more than just a test image,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106053;left:135">It was the Lawnmower Man,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106070;left:135">He was twisting hexagonal cubes, attempting to escape cyber confinement. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106087;left:135">The projectors were replicating him on every available wall,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106105;left:135">Tiny camera looking things,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106122;left:135">Attached to girders in the ceiling,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106139;left:135">The speakers were vibrating the room, without any music playing.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106173;left:135">I saw Alx and asked where we were to go, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106191;left:135">He showed us to a small room, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106208;left:135">Where I thought we would never be seen, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106225;left:135">There was a blacklight bulb in the ceiling.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106243;left:135">We grabbed a board with a Jack O Lantern painted on it,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106260;left:135">And made a makeshift table with a rough metal frame, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106277;left:135">and Drew Posters on Neon Red and Green Poster Board, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106294;left:135">And hung them on the sweaty, thin, grey, wooden walls.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106329;left:135">I organized the change in the cashbox, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106346;left:135">Opened the powders,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106363;left:135">Mixed some test drinks,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106380;left:135">And then it was time to find a fix.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106398;left:135">We found our paper, and shared it,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106415;left:135">One hit of the Dreamscape was enough, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106432;left:135">And we were sizzling when the first bass beat rolled. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106450;left:135">Rich would help us keep our heads together, and we barely knew him.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106484;left:135">Tanya was going to get what she wanted,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106501;left:135">I promised her a trip home to Detroit, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106519;left:135">I was thinking about shopping for Records and stopping off at Karl&#39;s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106536;left:135">We could never predict that she&#39;d be riding home with a broken nose. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106553;left:135">Tanya was the candy girl, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106570;left:135">I sent her into the masses with Smarties at midnight, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106587;left:135">To hand them out with paper flyers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106605;left:135">Printed out on my 520 and photocopied at OfficeMax. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106639;left:135">Mental Jackhammer was having its first run,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106657;left:135">with customers winding their way into our little party room,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106674;left:135">Following the flashes of the Strobe Light against the wall, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106691;left:135">And lining up for Fast Blast and Brain Boost.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106708;left:135">Scott was a confused Mixer, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106726;left:135">While Rich sorted the Cups, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106743;left:135">And I counted the change. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106760;left:135">Everything was going smoothly.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106777;left:135">We were addressed by the Master&#39;s of Ceremony, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106794;left:135">And motioned into acts of dancing,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106812;left:135">Working the table, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:106829;left:135">to the selections of Dr. No, Mark Oliver, and Alx.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107095;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_91"><b>Page 91</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107206;left:135">I didn&#39;t know the title at the time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107224;left:135">But it was the first time I would hear, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107241;left:135">The Future Sound of London&#39;s Papua New Guinea, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107258;left:135">Wailing through the warm air, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107275;left:135">Washing chills through the crowd. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107293;left:135">I walked among them,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107310;left:135">Seeing women in silver sequined suits, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107327;left:135">Smiling and laughing as if in orbit, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107344;left:135">Feeling like my black canvas converse, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107361;left:135">were the soft cushions of moon boots.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107396;left:135">There was a game to play, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107413;left:135">I looked on at the fried teens,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107431;left:135">with their heads in round helmets,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107448;left:135">standing on magnetic plates, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107465;left:135">trying to kill the virtual pterodactyl, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107482;left:135">that swooped down from its perch,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107500;left:135">to lift them into the air, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107517;left:135">and drop their cartoon bodies,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107534;left:135">to the perfectly flat pavement,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107551;left:135">where they shattered and began again.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107568;left:135">I was told it was driven by a high end Amiga. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107603;left:135">In the catacombic rooms at the back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107620;left:135">bodies writhed against the cold floor, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107638;left:135">Some of them cross legged, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107655;left:135">Waving their heads entranced,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107672;left:135">To the gentle electronic buzzings,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107689;left:135">Infiltrating their minds.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107724;left:135">A Jester in a Riot sock looped through the crowd, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107741;left:135">Grinning, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107758;left:135">Knowing that a good part of this madness,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107775;left:135">was his doing.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107810;left:135">Coming around and through the back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107827;left:135">I encountered Smiley and his Italian friend. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107845;left:135">They had bought drinks, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107862;left:135">And they wanted to let me know that they loved us. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107879;left:135">I told them that I loved them too,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107896;left:135">And walked them around to the bar, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107914;left:135">Stealing two cups from Scott, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107931;left:135">and sharing them with Smiley and his friend.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107948;left:135">Smiley offered me some Vicks to put under my nose, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107965;left:135">and I accepted, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:107982;left:135">The vapors stirred the paisley spirals, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108000;left:135">Out of my tricking Axons, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108017;left:135">and They vanished, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108034;left:135">and the line became convulsive. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108283;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_92"><b>Page 92</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108394;left:135">There were hands reaching for the bar, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108412;left:135">And before I knew it,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108429;left:135">We had run out of twos. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108446;left:135">I told Tanya to get in front of the door, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108463;left:135">And let no one enter. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108498;left:135">That was a sight, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108515;left:135">I wrangled in my mind for a solution to the problem of the twos, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108532;left:135">And looked to Scott for help, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108549;left:135">But he was lost in the cups with the Braun Blender, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108567;left:135">And I noticed that people were frantically trying to push past Tanya, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108584;left:135">Her petite body was being pushed back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108601;left:135">And her arms were stretched from the door. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108636;left:135">As they washed in and she rushed back to the bar, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108653;left:135">I noticed the Loonies, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108670;left:135">And Scott and Rich laughed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108688;left:135">as the Ice melted in the colored plastic goblets.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108705;left:135">We had the means to make change,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108722;left:135">for the moment at least. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108756;left:135">At 3:30 the celebrities came calling,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108774;left:135">Mark Oliver and his Zebra clad girl, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108791;left:135">Dropped twenty for two drinks, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108808;left:135">And gave us some African Gum,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108826;left:135">That minted our mouths,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108843;left:135">Until almost the end.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108877;left:135">Rich talked Tanya into filling cups with Ice, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108895;left:135">Even when there were twenty full, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108912;left:135">And she ran to get a big bucket,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108929;left:135">from the water bar, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108946;left:135">When ours was finally liquid in bags, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108963;left:135">In the dust on the concrete. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:108998;left:135">And then Dante was there, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109015;left:135">With a bald head and a centaur&#39;s Goatee, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109033;left:135">Looking like an incarnation of the devil himself,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109050;left:135">And he handed me a business card, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109067;left:135">And another twenty, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109084;left:135">And said we should all come to New York, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109102;left:135">And work at one of his parties. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109136;left:135">It seemed so far away,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109153;left:135">But his face was domestic at least, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109170;left:135">A reminder that we were Americans,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109188;left:135">Toiling on foreign soil. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109222;left:135">At some point in there,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109239;left:135">Tanya&#39;s boyfriend danced carelessly,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109257;left:135">And his fist cracked cartilage, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109274;left:135">Her nose was bleeding,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109291;left:135">The best we could do, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109309;left:135">Is give her some ice.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109471;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_93"><b>Page 93</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109582;left:135">Dante&#39;s friend came to visit us later, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109600;left:135">He bought drinks too, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109617;left:135">He was a black man,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109634;left:135">With short Jamaican dreads, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109651;left:135">With a muscular build, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109669;left:135">Sporting bright yellow overalls, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109686;left:135">He was the last of the out of towners, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109703;left:135">that we saw that night.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109737;left:135">Scott had gotten himself up there somewhere,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109755;left:135">To a place I dared not voyage,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109772;left:135">Because some tall kid had given him,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109789;left:135">Something special for free. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109824;left:135">The sun was starting to shine through the windows,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109841;left:135">And the inside of my eyelids kept flashing, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109858;left:135">Even after we turned off the strobe, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109876;left:135">And I watched the dancers continue to lock their joints on the floor, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109893;left:135">Even after the music receded. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109927;left:135">It was time to count up the various colored bills, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109944;left:135">Give Alx two hundred for our wonderful space, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109962;left:135">Gather up the powders and lights, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:109979;left:135">And meet back at Tanyas. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110014;left:135">That morning in her living room,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110031;left:135">I thought I saw the floating letters, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110048;left:135">For the name of a new Rave promotions team,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110065;left:135">In a painting of a red Mars Scape on the wall behind her. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110100;left:135">I couldn&#39;t help thinking that her nose was partly my responsibility,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110117;left:135">But I can&#39;t choose the friends of strangers,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110134;left:135">And I couldn&#39;t do anything but drive them home again,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110151;left:135">And sit and watch her swelling nostrils. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110186;left:135">My eyes twisted the letters into the word Phoicos. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110203;left:135">And I made the pronouncement, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110221;left:135">That one day we would have a party,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110238;left:135">And one day, not so far off into the future, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110272;left:135">We did. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110659;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_94"><b>Page 94</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110771;left:135">Atlantis Vertigo</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110791;left:135">by Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110808;left:135">Dedicated to Don, Chris (Dogwhistle), Ian, Jason, Bowie, Scott, Shauna, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110826;left:135">Every Poet Whose Challenge Arises With The Changing Time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110843;left:135">and The Crystal Princess.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110860;left:135">4/14/00 12:51:26 AM</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110894;left:135">They announced it in August,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110912;left:135">In the Metro West Convention Center, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110929;left:135">Under the Pulsing of a Revolving E, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110946;left:135">On two screens, on the outsides of a Green Argon Laser. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110981;left:135">The city was going to rise,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:110998;left:135">To the top of the spire, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111015;left:135">At the epicenter of the Emerald field, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111033;left:135">Near the intersection of Spadina and Front. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111067;left:135">Moments after the announcement, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111084;left:135">The club kids were moving through the crowd,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111101;left:135">With the multicolored slicks, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111119;left:135">Dated October 23. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111153;left:135">The 23s were signifigant,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111170;left:135">It was as if they had stepped out of the Stars to me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111188;left:135">December, the date I had started making money,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111205;left:135">October, the day I would get out.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111239;left:135">I had it in the back of my mind, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111257;left:135">It would be my last trip to eternity, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111274;left:135">And it would be fabulous, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111291;left:135">And there would be nothing to alter the course of events. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111308;left:135">It would be the end of a Trilogy,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111326;left:135">The end of an Era, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111343;left:135">The conclusion of a compacted year, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111360;left:135">Of absolute entrenchment in potential jeopardy.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111395;left:135">I called Berns and asked for a discount ticket on the day of the show, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111412;left:135">He put me on the guest list, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111429;left:135">The guest list to the city in the clouds, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111446;left:135">A circular flywheel in space. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111464;left:135">I was hoping to see Stormtroopers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111481;left:135">one last time, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111498;left:135">Before the rhythm ebbed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111515;left:135">and my heart would start to grow old. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111550;left:135">I was 19 and my affair with Canada was about to end. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111584;left:135">Canada was a blond woman in black stretch pants,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111602;left:135">Her long curling hair was drifting away into Ontario,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111619;left:135">It had brushed my chest with sunglassed vision, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111636;left:135">more than once, in an eternal sea of hot chocolate, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111653;left:135">in the back seat of the Shadow, behind Tim Hortons, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111671;left:135">and in a roadside motel in Windsor, on travels to Detroit. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111847;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_95"><b>Page 95</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111976;left:135">Canada was moving in with other people, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:111993;left:135">People with herbal remedies for glaucomatic presidents, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112010;left:135">Whose armed forces moved quickly with Uzis and Axes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112027;left:135">While the frost drifted lower toward the edge of America. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112045;left:135">I met her in her small apartments, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112062;left:135">And watched her slowly siphon away my liquid assets, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112079;left:135">Forgiving her wiles, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112096;left:135">knowing that at some point, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112113;left:135">the copious entanglements would come to a conclusion. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112148;left:135">In any case, the Tower was there for the climbing, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112165;left:135">And if there is a Tower to climb,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112183;left:135">Then there is the reason for climbing it, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112200;left:135">Because it is there. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112234;left:135">October 23</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="2" face="Times"><span style="font-size:7px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112231;left:202">rd</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112234;left:214">arrived, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112252;left:135">And the Gardiner Expressway rushed by in the late afternoon, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112269;left:135">Minolta, EDS, Ford, and Scotiabank, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112286;left:135">Greeted me in their green bush form. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112320;left:135">I slid over the bump at 100 kilometers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112338;left:135">And noted the presence of an emergency telephone, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112355;left:135">As the sidewalk to the right passed,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112372;left:135">And then it was there, Spadina Exit. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112407;left:135">I passed the closed Dome of the stadium,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112424;left:135">Remembering the Blue Jays game, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112441;left:135">I had taken the Pleasuredome barmaid to, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112459;left:135">Maybe three weeks earlier. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112476;left:135">We had watched them play Chicago, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112493;left:135">and visited The Olive Garden along the strip. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112510;left:135">She&#39;d told me she had a Marine boyfriend, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112527;left:135">and I&#39;d ignored that fact, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112545;left:135">And kept the conversation going,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112562;left:135">All the way back to the Rainbow Center. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112597;left:135">I parked in back of Queen Street, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112614;left:135">Down past the Pizza Pizza, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112631;left:139">at the intersection opposite Speakers Corner, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112648;left:135">The place where I had danced, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112666;left:135">On Much Music, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112683;left:135">Broadcast to the Northern World.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112717;left:135">It was a cool but comfortable evening,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112734;left:135">The lamp posts began to cast glowing photons on the pavement, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112752;left:135">And I passed the intersection of John and Mercer, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112769;left:135">Remembering the place that was there before it changed to Oz. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112786;left:135">An industrialized nightclub that was called The Factory,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112803;left:135">where I took my friends,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112821;left:135">and I met the Roses, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112838;left:135">While dancing in a Neon green Labcoat,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112855;left:135">purchased from South Pacific Surplus,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:112873;left:135">Before I graduated with honors.</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113035;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_96"><b>Page 96</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113164;left:135">The Factory was the origin of rave in Toronto, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113181;left:135">When Ian spun Messiah and Apotheosis, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113198;left:135">With the launch into bounce mode, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113215;left:135">With Rotterdam Termination Source - Poing.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113233;left:135">Back before he changed stations, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113250;left:135">Sheppard twisted disks there, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113267;left:135">And set the metropolis on fire, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113284;left:135">With his Techno Trip Compact Discs.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113319;left:135">Nothing could stop Oz from being beautiful,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113336;left:135">except for the winged monkeys,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113353;left:135">who decended on the child-like munchkins, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113371;left:135">who were only trying to follow the Yellow Brick Road. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113405;left:135">I continued to wonder, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113422;left:135">as I flowed into the soccer garbed massive, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113440;left:135">at the base of the citadel, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113457;left:135">Who is the Great and Powerful Oz, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113474;left:135">and why does he project such a frightening spectre?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113491;left:135">Could I rub my purple and green sneakers together, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113508;left:135">and Find my ticket back to Kansas?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113526;left:135">Or would I have to seek out Dorothy,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113543;left:135">The Crystal Princess, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113560;left:135">And ride on the heels of her ruby slippers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113578;left:135">transforming from the Tin Man,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113595;left:135">back into a simple farmer?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113629;left:135">There was no music at Dusk, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113647;left:135">But there was a sharp green light, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113664;left:135">Gliding around the cylindrical structure, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113681;left:135">beckoning into the fog.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113715;left:135">After my contemplations, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113733;left:135">and greetings to groove riders and strangers of all sorts,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113750;left:135">I signed the third page, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113767;left:135">Was waved through security, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113785;left:135">And stepped through the door.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113802;left:135">I&#39;d already found my Purple Window Sky,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113819;left:135">and I was grinning knowing they would never discover,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113836;left:135">What was already in my spine.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113871;left:135">I was alone in the ebb of humans, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113888;left:135">More alone than I had ever been, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113905;left:135">Ecstatic that there was no chain to hold me to earth, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113922;left:135">Ready to take the Tour of the Universe, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113940;left:135">A close substitute, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113957;left:135">for the Millennium Falcon. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:113991;left:135">I was to be the closest to the Moon that I had ever been, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114009;left:135">The Black Raybans shielding my dilated Pupils covered the fact that I would never fly,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114026;left:135">Never pilot a shuttle, like the one I commanded in Seventh Grade, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114043;left:135">The one I commanded into implosion, and fiery death in Alabama. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114061;left:135">The Speedball Surface Cleaner in nineteen eighty eight </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114078;left:135">had made certain I would never pass an eye exam without lenses. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114223;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_97"><b>Page 97</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114352;left:135">The elevator stood before us as we anxiously waited, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114369;left:135">The boy in the orange Fresh Jive shirt with the long hair,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114386;left:135">And the girl with the twist tied pigtails, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114403;left:135">sucking on the clear magenta pacifier attached to a whistle strap around her neck, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114421;left:135">The people in Addidas stripes and painters caps,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114438;left:135">And shirts with the Atlantis logo stenciled in black on rainbow tye dye. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114455;left:135">The soft electric sound of the bell sounded, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114472;left:135">And we climbed into an empty cell,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114489;left:135">Standing in noiseless anticipation, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114507;left:135">during the smooth sensual voyage to the pinnacle of Architectural wonder. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114541;left:135">When I was in sixth grade,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114559;left:135">I had been up there briefly,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114576;left:135">Looking down and hoping to see from the observation deck,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114593;left:135">The massive shopping center, called Eaton,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114610;left:135">On Yonge and Dundas, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114628;left:135">where I had shopped with Robin and Isaac and Casey and Shannon and DeEtte. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114645;left:135">I opened fortune cookies in Chinatown,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114662;left:135">and bought Sunglasses with straps, and a Bryan Adams tape </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114679;left:135">to listen to on my generic walk-man, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114696;left:135">in the Train on the way back to my side of Niagara Falls.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114731;left:135">What my eyes showed me when the door opened was entirely different from that time. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114748;left:135">It took my ears a fraction of a second to recognize the audio, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114766;left:135">But it was somehow different than what I had heard when I first came home from Chicago. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114783;left:135">The track phased the Shamen&#39;s voices through space, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114800;left:135">between multi-dimensionally arranged speaker housings,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114817;left:135">And before I knew what I was up to, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114835;left:135">I had asked three people who was spinning, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114852;left:135">The answer had been Ian.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114886;left:135">I circled around the outside of the centered ring</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114903;left:135">and found the Tall Dark haired Jockey standing with one hand at a headset at his ear. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114921;left:135">The circles on the Mark II plates were slowing and quickening as his fingers manipulated the vinyl, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114938;left:135">I watched him slide the pitch bar up toward the +8 marker, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114955;left:135">He organized the flow into a white label. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114973;left:135">When he was done, he turned and smiled, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:114990;left:135">He knew that I wanted to know what he&#39;d been up to,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115007;left:135">He handed me the slip cover for the single, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115024;left:135">And I looked at the circuited design, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115042;left:135">Wishing that I knew where on earth he&#39;d discovered it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115059;left:135">I let the cover rest on his crate, and walked into the crowd. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115093;left:135">People were dancing against Virtual Reality Projected on the walls,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115110;left:135">In the gaps where the souvenir stands would have been on any given day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115128;left:135">I tried to find space to let my arms fly and my feet shuffle, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115145;left:135">But I was beyond excitement, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115162;left:135">And the doughnut ring of the Cement Nail was becoming smaller, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115179;left:135">as the elevators brought the teeming humanity into the sky.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115197;left:135">I decided to drop back to earth and take the Tour. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115411;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_98"><b>Page 98</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115540;left:135">The Tour of the Universe was a Computer Generated flight, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115557;left:135">through a quadrant of the Galaxy that I had never before seen,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115574;left:135">Girders of space stations and Planets and Constellations whizzed past, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115591;left:135">Burning jets of color into my perspiring retinas. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115609;left:135">The seat I had strapped into tilted with the whole thirty member audience, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115626;left:135">And my blood poured into my feet, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115643;left:135">while my head stumbled on visual sketches of Android controlled vessels. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115660;left:135">I was lost in the Cosmos for five minutes,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115677;left:135">in a physical man machine interface, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115695;left:135">Wishing that I could never stop coming to the end of Gravity&#39;s Rainbow.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115729;left:135">In the middle of it all, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115747;left:135">I remembered Tron and The Black Hole, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115764;left:135">and Blade Runner, and The Terminator, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115781;left:135">and had a thought to pray that one of Gibson&#39;s novels would make it to film. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115798;left:135">I had a vision that I might someday try to put the whole kaleidoscope of HallucinoGen-X into print.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115833;left:135">And it was quickly forgotten,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115850;left:135">as the Falcon swiftly landed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115867;left:135">and it&#39;s razored talons, gripped the earth, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115884;left:135">Ripping up the ground, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115902;left:135">And needling my tear gassed brain,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115919;left:135">Like &quot;Good Bye Blue Skies,&quot;</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115936;left:135">Just before the lights came back up. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115971;left:135">As I left the Pod and carefully set my feet on each stair, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:115988;left:135">I looked ahead to the tilted floor of the ramp, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116005;left:135">And set myself into careful motion,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116023;left:135">Swaying with the chosen thirty.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116040;left:135">Some said that the end was near, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116057;left:135">I could see that the beginning was near, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116074;left:135">And that there would be no turning back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116091;left:135">from the bath of liquid sunshine, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116109;left:135">of the silicon age. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116143;left:135">At the base of the tower, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116161;left:135">In the House Cage, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116178;left:135">The Detroit people were playing Dimensional Holophonic Sound, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116195;left:135">&quot;The House of God,&quot;</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116212;left:135">A dance fell into my step as I moved toward the elevator, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116230;left:135">And at the entrance I spotted Jason.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116264;left:135">He was wearing his graphite lenses,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116281;left:135">and smoothing back his blond hair, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116298;left:135">The girl who&#39;d sold me John Player Specials on the Mountain wasn&#39;t with him,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116316;left:135">He was alone, and headed for the T-Shirt vendors.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116333;left:135">I banged his knuckles with mine and told him about the Shamen mix,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116350;left:135">and that I&#39;d just come back from the Tour. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116367;left:135">I kept walking at the elevator, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116385;left:135">and he kept straight on to the vendors,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116402;left:135">and then I was in the frictionless tunnel again.</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116599;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_99"><b>Page 99</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116728;left:135">At the top things had changed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116745;left:135">People were sitting on the rug with their backs to the glass, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116762;left:135">And there was a little bit more space to dance, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116779;left:135">I stood for a bit and just took in the sound, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116797;left:135">piercing harmonic frequencies at enormous decibels in hyper-clarity,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116814;left:135">Bass guitar samples that made the high ground shake, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116831;left:135">Frenetic loops of syncopated swing Jazz drums,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116848;left:135">Sputtered hiccups of Triangle and Sawtooth wave modulating in burst pulses. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116883;left:135">I was inside a lightning bolt of Audio, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116900;left:135">watching the frantic motion of hip cracking thigh twists and knife handed jabs at the air.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116917;left:135">People wearing Sun-In and Electric Kool Aid in their hair passed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116935;left:135">as the Chinese Dragons of firecracking Wavesample barraged the pulse of my heart. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116952;left:135">I nearly cried at the beauty of the smiles on their lips and the smiles on their linen, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116969;left:135">A warm tear ran down my right cheek as I smiled back and I swallowed it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:116986;left:135">The salt hit me and I realized that it was time to drink.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117021;left:135">Liquid Adrenaline was there. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117038;left:135">I had never directly competed with them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117055;left:135">So I let them fix me a drink.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117072;left:135">Banannas, Wild Cherry Drink Mix, Orange Juice, and L-Phenylalanine. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117090;left:135">I gave them the extra two dollars for the choline, because I wanted to see the walls breathe. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117107;left:135">I took a sip of the wet chipped cherry ice concoction and walked to the steps ringing the outer rim.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117124;left:135">The Liquid Adrenaline people were smiling too. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117159;left:135">That&#39;s when I lost track of time. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117176;left:135">I slowly set myself down on the steps </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117193;left:135">and pulled a Benson and Hedges Special King Light Menthol cigarette from my sky blue pocket.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117211;left:135">The flame flickered on my Bic disposable after I struck the flint. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117228;left:135">I pulled my Sunglasses down slightly</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117245;left:135">so that I could watch myself start the correct end of the cylinder smoke. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117262;left:135">I watched the ice swirl in the cup and had another sip. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117279;left:135">And I started to realize, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117297;left:135">That I was beginning to forget.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117331;left:135">I was forgetting the sand volley ball pit of my first day away at school, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117349;left:135">Forgetting paint ball in the forests of Illinois, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117366;left:135">Forgetting fraternity football in the Rain of October, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117383;left:135">Forgetting the Grain Alcohol behind the bar in the basement at the Pledge Halloween Party,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117418;left:135">Forgetting Two girls who wanted to buy me a Pizza while I was trying to write a song,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117435;left:135">Forgetting Cool Vaughn the Air Force ROTC and our Fortran 77 class,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117452;left:135">Forgetting Business English and Being Carried to Calculus to earn a C while drunk,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117469;left:135">Forgetting Being Thrown into the Pool after a game of Risk in the living room of the house,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117504;left:135">Forgetting breaking my roomate&#39;s custom designed bed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117521;left:135">Forgetting having the telephone line installed in our Dorm Room, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117538;left:135">Forgetting the picture of the Ace of Spades that Aiston kept hidden under the floorboards of his deck. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117573;left:135">Forgetting Brian&#39;s Japanese American Girlfriend</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117590;left:135">who wound up in bed with another brother after too much liquor. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117625;left:135">I was forgetting that this had all started in WJJL on Main Street, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117642;left:135">Where Scott and I Listened to The Announcements of the First Parties on CFNY. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117787;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_100"><b>Page 100</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117898;left:135">I was forgetting the computer engineering class at University at Buffalo, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117916;left:135">Forgetting the Physics I took in high school,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117933;left:135">Forgetting how I ran for class President and lost to Eugene Williams, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117950;left:135">Forgetting Quickbasic and the Electronic Data Systems Co-Operative, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:117985;left:135">Forgetting my crush on Emily when she sang Bette Middler for our graduation,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118002;left:135">Forgetting the Electronic Music Workshop, and the people who taught me to compose, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118019;left:135">Forgetting sitting on Karen&#39;s back porch with Rob plotting our final Yawp at class day</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118036;left:135">Forgetting Sitting on the Rock above the Whirlpool with Robin S after Lunch at Emperor of China, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118071;left:135">Forgetting Selecting the Engagement band at Zales in Summit Park Mall.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118088;left:135">Forgetting the Two Proms I attended with the same girl, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118105;left:135">Forgetting that same girl as I left her on Regent Avenue far behind the Shadow to dive into Nitrous 013, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118140;left:135">Forgetting my Mother and my Father who labored day and night so that I could attend private schools,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118157;left:135">Forgetting Ike, Chris, and the Boys Club kids on Portage and Niagara who taught me how to use the Apple, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118174;left:135">Forgetting how to play Axis and Allies which I discovered in Huntsville, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118192;left:135">Forgetting the Role Playing Games and the people I collected and left for my own peace of mind, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118226;left:135">Forgetting the summer Bicycle Camp which took me through Genesee county and Batavia,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118243;left:135">Forgetting taking Jennifer out alone on a Sunfish on Silver Lake during the Regatta. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118260;left:135">Forgetting a picnic lunch with Tammy who taught me to write poetry to go with my music,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118278;left:135">Forgetting spending an afternoon in a wavepool with Mesha. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118312;left:135">Forgetting learning to speak Japanese with Charlene and then taking her to a Fugazi concert at Buff State. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118330;left:135">Forgetting the red haired girl that helped me obtain Depeche Mode 101 on video tape. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118347;left:135">Forgetting watching my first PG-13 Movie with a long haired Jennifer</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118364;left:135">and seeing Charlie take Tom Cruise&#39;s Breath away. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118399;left:135">Forgetting Bowling at Bowl O Drome on Pine Avenue with Paula and my Brother and Sister.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118416;left:135">Forgetting Valentines Day at The Red Coach Inn with Michelle. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118433;left:135">Forgetting Programming Color Macros for C-NET on the Commodore 64. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118450;left:135">Forgetting Rides out to Glenn&#39;s houses in Lockport and Wilson to learn about PC&#39;s. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118485;left:135">Forgetting the thrown Chestnut incident on Lewiston Road near Deveaux manor. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118502;left:135">Forgetting being kicked in the head by Rob in Hyde Park at a picnic in the Fall. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118537;left:135">Forgetting my Math teacher who died of Cancer. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118554;left:135">Forgetting my grandmother, whose estate bought me the Ensoniq Sampler. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118571;left:135">Forgetting my Grandfather, who lived just long enough for Joshua to be born.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118588;left:135">Forgetting my Aunts and Uncles and their families, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118623;left:135">Forgetting that I should have taken pride in my work and not kept it behind the closed wooden door of my</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118640;left:135">tiny goblin green bedroom. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118674;left:135">In an instant after that final thought, she was there, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118692;left:135">My Crystal Princess. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118709;left:135">She had long brown hair and Ruby Slippers,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118726;left:135">All I can call her now is Dorothy,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118743;left:135">I never knew her real name.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:118975;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_101"><b>Page 101</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119086;left:135">I left my half finished cup to rest on the tight fibers of the carpet when she asked me if I was Ok, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119104;left:135">and if I wanted to dance. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119121;left:135">She put my hands on her shoulders and started slow.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119138;left:135">While in motion I looked at my chrome swatch and realized that I had been motionless for an hour. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119155;left:135">I also noticed that I was still holding the cigarette butt. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119173;left:135">I let the paper fall. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119207;left:135">I watched her chest heave with the music and followed their downward motion to her feet,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119224;left:135">They rested beneath the edge of her long cotton shirt, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119241;left:135">Beyond the rustling cut strings of torn blue jean, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119259;left:135">And they were clicking together, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119276;left:135">I didn&#39;t have to count,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119293;left:135">They had hit many more than three times. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119328;left:135">I saw her face, and she smiled at me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119345;left:135">and I smiled back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119362;left:135">her eyes were narrow,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119380;left:135">and I could feel that we were both sweating,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119397;left:135">like the clouds fogging the windows from the outside. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119414;left:135">Sweat that comes from just under the surface to make the skin of the face glow. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119431;left:135">It was all over both of us. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119448;left:135">I ran my fingers through my hair and it spiked up, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119466;left:135">And I saw many figures of her dancing inside her platinum aura. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119483;left:135">She was here to take me home.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119518;left:135">In that instant I realized that what I thought was forgetting, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119535;left:135">Was remembering.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119552;left:135">I had somewhere to go. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119569;left:135">The end of my time in the Tower in the Emerald Patch was here. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119587;left:135">I kissed her sweaty lips and we walked past each other. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119621;left:135">I made for the elevator at the center of the tower and walked past a spinning Disco Ball. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119638;left:135">There were Gel Lights on the floor in the coridor flashing patterns that flashed </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119655;left:135">like Fourth of July Fireworks against the wall. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119673;left:135">America was coming back. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119707;left:135">I remembered standing in the Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center with my Aunt when I was Five, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119725;left:135">and pouring Pepsi in my eye to put out an ash that had fallen into it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119759;left:135">I remembered choking on a lifesaver at the Auto Vue drive in, while watching Luke Skywalker fire his</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119776;left:135">Photon Torpedo into the Death Star. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119811;left:135">I remembered dashing up sloping sidewalks in Winter to drop rolled newspapers into mailboxes. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119828;left:135">I remembered that I earned my component Stereo system steaming Eggs for Breakfast at McDonalds.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119845;left:135">I remembered that the Wicked Witch was dead. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119862;left:135">I remembered that it was always safe to come home. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119897;left:135">And then I was in the elevator, and there was the musty smell of already smoked marijuana, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119914;left:135">And I put my sunglasses on and struck my lighter to another Menthol,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119931;left:135">And the smell vanished as the doors opened, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:119949;left:135">And I was vibrating on a tiled floor, </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120163;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_102"><b>Page 102</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120274;left:135">And I caught the back of Jason&#39;s head, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120292;left:135">and then I thought better of annoying him with my discovery,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120309;left:135">after all where exactly does his concern for my travel come into play?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120326;left:135">He told me once that I&#39;d meet up with him in Hollywood. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120361;left:135">And I thought, Maybe it&#39;s better that the continuing party in Oz costs only $2.00. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120378;left:135">I will go for a little while, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120395;left:135">And let the Medicine run its course. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120412;left:135">And find a clean bottle of Evian to run through my veins. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120447;left:135">And then I think,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120464;left:135">The House of God was there through it all, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120481;left:135">There is something of a Soul lurking out there, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120499;left:135">and Maybe it is worth the cost of a careful ride home. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120533;left:135">But only after a brief visit to Rochester, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120550;left:135">And a long float across a field full of people in England </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120568;left:135">who&#39;ve been around thirty years longer than I. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120585;left:135">In a white balloon painted with love, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120602;left:135">While the Sun Machine, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:120619;left:135">was coming down.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121351;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_103"><b>Page 103</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121463;left:135">Manhattan in A Shirt and Tie</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121484;left:135">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121504;left:135">Dedicated to Ricky Lee, Tammy Sharpe, The Impulse Foot Soldiers, Jim M and Jim A, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121525;left:135">The New Culture Industry Manipulators, Anyone Who Has Ever Had a Sales Crisis, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121546;left:135">The Venture Capitalists of Advent, All of my friends at Electronic Data Systems, and </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121566;left:135">The Social Reforming Activists of The University at Buffalo. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121608;left:135">Inspired by the Music Video for &quot;Sleep Now in the Fire&quot; by Rage Against the Machine </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121629;left:135">broadcast on Much Music on Friday April 14, 2000 At Sometime Around 4 PM. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121670;left:135">Transmission Coding Header: </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121691;left:135">Warning - Electronic Letter Bombs not delivered by Federal Express may contain </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121711;left:207">Action Provoking Patriotic Imagery. Do not read this poem partially.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121753;left:207">As proscribed by the laws of The United States of America: </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121773;left:257">********************* </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121794;left:284">Parental Advisory</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121815;left:257">********************* </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121836;left:311">Explicit Content </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121856;left:261">that May Contain </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121877;left:315">Statements of Fact. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121918;left:135">Transmission Coding Footer: </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121939;left:135">The beginning is always a good place to start. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:121980;left:135">Manhattan in a Shirt and Tie</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122022;left:135">Back Up </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122043;left:135">Behind countless vehicles of all sorts </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122063;left:135">Old, new, auctioned and in between </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122084;left:135">The monoxide drifted through clouded girders </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122105;left:135">Above the blue-green current below </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122125;left:135">Everyone behind the wheel </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122146;left:135">slowly pushing forward </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122167;left:135">toward the four dollar toll cages </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122187;left:135">at the end of the George Washington </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122229;left:135">A bicyclist passes wearing headphones </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122250;left:135">And I realize that there is music</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122270;left:135">Among the talking in the Shadow </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122291;left:135">Z-100 Boosts SWV with a hint of Michael Jackson </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122312;left:135">To the ears of the four of us </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122332;left:135">Ready to sell Kansas and Boston </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122353;left:135">From Black Bags loaded into the trunk in Jersey</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122539;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_104"><b>Page 104</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122651;left:135">We might have been selling poppies </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122672;left:135">Silver backed disks in sealed plastic</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122692;left:135">I was going to work the streets with an Italian named Joe</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122713;left:135">An ex Air Force mechanic named Steve </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122734;left:135">A hispanic account manager named Jose </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122754;left:135">And a moustached black man named Carl </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122775;left:135">We all knew that we were going to do it &quot;My Way&quot; </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122796;left:135">if things didn&#39;t work out and we were going to come home with money.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122837;left:135">The day shift was enough for a thousand words. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122858;left:135">We parked at Six A.M. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122879;left:135">And hit the bars and pornography houses on fourty second street </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122899;left:135">with a furious vengeance</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122920;left:135">that could only be characterized as a kind of anger for gross earning</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122961;left:135">We enticed the Arab and ex-bounty hunter vendors and morning barkeeps to pick up </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:122982;left:135">the Greatest Hits of Billy Joel</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123003;left:135">and Try on for size a digitally remastered Jefferson Airplane ticket </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123024;left:135">We had Sinatra and Benettar </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123044;left:135">And if you bothered to dig</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123065;left:135">We had some Chris Cross to make you Jump </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123106;left:135">The clerks ate up our numbing brain candy</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123127;left:135">Especially when we featured &quot;Dust in the Wind&quot; for them. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123168;left:135">Everybody had a few nickels to drop </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123189;left:135">And we were there to pick them up </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123210;left:135">Like aluminum scavengers with Glad twist tie kitchen bags. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123231;left:135">As I walked with the canvas slung across my shoulders </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123251;left:135">I saw huge billboards along the walks </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123272;left:135">Women dressed in underwear </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123293;left:135">Poked inviting fingers out at me</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123313;left:135">Supermodels I&#39;d never seen on television. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123334;left:135">People stood behind walls of plexi-glass </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123355;left:135">waiting for busses. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123396;left:135">At first I was nervous </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123417;left:135">about going up into buildings, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123438;left:135">but that changed as the morning progressed. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123479;left:135">I walked through a bread line</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123500;left:135">And watched a Mercedes and a Jaguar</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123520;left:135">glide by among the Yellow Taxis. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123727;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_105"><b>Page 105</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123839;left:135">On the short steps of a building</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123860;left:135">Out near the Parking Lot</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123880;left:135">Somewhere around 9</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:10px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123876;left:288">th</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123901;left:135">A girl collecting change in a pencil can </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123922;left:135">asked to see what I had to sell </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123942;left:135">I showed her some Mozart </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123963;left:135">when she said she wanted it </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:123984;left:135">Classical style </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124005;left:135">She paid with a fifty.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124046;left:135">It was a new North America for me </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124067;left:135">Everything was for sale </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124087;left:135">You could feel it even if you couldn&#39;t see it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124129;left:135">I could smell the moisture evaporating off the concrete</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124149;left:135">As the legions of stock attired swindlers in sharkskin wingtips </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124170;left:135">Marched uniformly down Wall </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124191;left:135">With a lust for the shifting numbers</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124212;left:135">Of the never halting ticker</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124232;left:135">They stopped for no one </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124253;left:135">And hurled change</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124274;left:135">At the scraggled legless veteran </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124294;left:135">Buried under the water stained wrinkled sheets of last weeks Journal </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124336;left:135">I stayed away from that strip </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124356;left:135">It was erie</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124377;left:135">Like something you&#39;d expect to see in Tokyo </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124398;left:135">But the pale angle shouldered business suited traders </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124419;left:135">Looked like Gillete Sensor sponsors with only one exception </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124439;left:135">They had wide lowered eyes. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124460;left:135">I let myself imagine that their Rolexes cost as much as thourougbreads worthy of the </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124481;left:135">Triple crown. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124522;left:135">In front of a New York pizza shop in the grid </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124543;left:135">I bought a hip fanny pack from an Armenian. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124563;left:135">I started using it for convenience.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124584;left:135">Michelle had shown me one </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124605;left:135">When we were in Physics class together </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124626;left:135">A year earlier in nineteen ninety two. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124667;left:135">By noon I was sweating</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124688;left:135">So I stepped into a store with no air conditioning.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124708;left:135">They sold everything from </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124729;left:135">Canned soup to Wisk to Boones and Bottle Openers </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:124915;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_106"><b>Page 106</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125027;left:135">There was an Asian College girl</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125048;left:135">behind the counter </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125068;left:135">I bought a pack of cigarettes </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125089;left:135">and an Arizona Green Tea. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125110;left:135">I tried to strike up a conversation </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125130;left:135">without selling anything</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125151;left:135">And she ended up taking 90215 and the Eagles with her </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125172;left:135">before we went our seperate ways</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125193;left:135">and I became an &quot;Owner of a Lonely Heart.&quot;</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125234;left:135">Next I found myself on Fifth Avenue </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125255;left:135">standing across the street from a woman with long soft shiny brunette hair. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125275;left:135">She was wearing a long white</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125296;left:135">Custom designed dress. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125317;left:135">It looked like the ones the models walked the runway in on CNN Fashion Extra. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125337;left:135">I can&#39;t pretend to be an expert on clothing</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125358;left:135">But I was certain that the flowing transparent garment </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125379;left:135">Cost far more than my parents&#39; humble estate of residence </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125400;left:135">Off a side street in DeVeaux.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125441;left:135">She was walking five identically trimmed brown dogs that stood only</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125462;left:135">About two feet from the ground. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125482;left:135">I won&#39;t lie and claim that they were terriers. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125503;left:135">I will only say that they looked like </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125524;left:135">What I imagined at the time a well groomed high pedigree </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125544;left:135">Terrier might be. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125565;left:135">The five of them all had long strands </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125586;left:135">Of thin hair that shined like gold </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125607;left:135">In the summer sunshine as it dangled lightly before their hidden eyes. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125648;left:135">She looked like a master water skier </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125669;left:135">Flowing behind them as they toddled </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125689;left:135">Back and forth in front of her </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125710;left:135">Along with the cement current </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125731;left:135">Of the Metropolis. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125772;left:135">As I turned away from the cosmopolitan woman, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125793;left:135">I looked at some delicately</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125814;left:135">Embossed pottery in the window </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125834;left:135">Of a shop with a black motif. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125876;left:135">Seven years has taken the </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125896;left:135">Print scripted on onyx</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125917;left:135">Visible from the curb </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:125938;left:135">Away from me. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126103;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_107"><b>Page 107</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126236;left:135">I walked into the storefront knowing that it was a bad idea. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126256;left:135">It was dark inside the shop</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126277;left:135">In the mid afternoon light </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126298;left:135">The clerks looked like clones of one another </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126318;left:135">They were both dressed in jet black turtlenecks </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126339;left:135">With small silver studs for earings. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126360;left:135">My brain took a double take seperating the one with breasts from the one without them. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126381;left:135">The dual sets of brown iris </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126401;left:135">Frowned at me as I approached </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126422;left:135">The curved polycarbon counter </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126443;left:135">And their hands waved me away</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126463;left:135">Without a word </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126484;left:135">As if I were some sort of flea ridden nuisance </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126505;left:135">The door closed hard but silently</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126525;left:135">At my back and I was back in the jittering traffic</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126546;left:135">Of elastic footsteps. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126588;left:135">Before getting caught up in the tide</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126608;left:135">Of the river of knees and elbows </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126629;left:135">I viewed the span in my field of view. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126670;left:135">There was a Jamaican of American descent</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126691;left:135">That may have sprung up from a manhole cover </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126712;left:135">Where the women with the dogs had floated by. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126732;left:135">I walked over to him </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126753;left:135">Past the fenders of cars built in the seventies and eighties </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126774;left:135">Frozen in time as if stuck in a still frame of moving film. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126795;left:135">The strap of the luggage was still heavy against my back. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126815;left:135">I opened my pack for him and </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126836;left:135">Showed him my wares. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126877;left:135">He outsold me </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126898;left:135">And I wound up with a plastic wrapped bundle </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126919;left:135">Long brown sticks of cinnamon incense. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126939;left:135">I got away cheap. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:126960;left:135">I didn&#39;t buy his Marley album because it didn&#39;t have &quot;Buffalo Soldier&quot; in the credits. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127002;left:135">The cart was a quick fold up table and while I was considering</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127022;left:135">Whether or not he&#39;d ever dealt Three Card Monte </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127043;left:135">I discovered why he was really there. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127064;left:135">A quick flip of my left wrist indicated that it was five P.M. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127084;left:135">The pacers struck the grey stone and the asphault with a frenetic fury</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127105;left:135">Winding among the traffic obstacles </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127126;left:135">And ignoring the flashing signals </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127146;left:135">That spotted through my lenses everywhere. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127291;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_108"><b>Page 108</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127424;left:135">I walked in the tangle for half a block </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127444;left:135">Then ducked into a shop selling neckties and stereo components. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127465;left:135">A grey cardboard sign with medium sized marker print </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127486;left:135">In carelessly formed characters indicated that the price on the ties was </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127506;left:135">&quot;Three for twenty dollars.&quot;</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127527;left:135">I spotted one in a glass display case that I wanted. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127569;left:135">I flashed back while waiting for the salesman to a time five years earlier</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127589;left:135">When a drama student girlfriend and I learned about the wonders of the neck tie </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127610;left:135">While she taught me about the act of love and it&#39;s relationship to artistic license. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127631;left:135">We would have been discovered by my mother</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127651;left:135">if she hadn&#39;t been a quick change practitioner.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127693;left:135">I talked to the olive skinned man when he approached </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127713;left:135">Working consciously not to let the visions of the past escape my lips. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127734;left:135">The item I desired had a print of Dali&#39;s melting clocks dyed into its fibers. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127755;left:135">He casually informed me that</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127776;left:135">The ties in the display case cost twenty-five dollars a piece. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127796;left:135">Our disagreement in price was understood </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127817;left:135">And I casually found my way back to the street </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127838;left:135">But not before I attempted to push the B52&#39;s and Talking Heads on him. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127858;left:135">It was almost a great afternoon for &quot;Burning Down The House&quot; with David Byrne. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127900;left:135">Trying to move that record drew me into thoughts of &quot;Until The End of The World&quot;</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127920;left:135">As I washed fluidly back through traffic and down an alley a couple of doors down </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127941;left:135">From that cascading toilet of Noir. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:127983;left:135">The corridor opened on the right </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128003;left:135">Into a market under a canvas tarp tent </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128024;left:135">Where hustling vendors were selling</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128045;left:135">Pirated copies of unreleased Hollywood Blockbusters taped on camcorders</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128065;left:135">By devious videographers out to capture a few of the drifting Benjamins </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128086;left:135">Awash in the current of </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128107;left:135">Under the surface rough trade </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128127;left:135">That couldn&#39;t exist on a level to any other cultural epicenter in the East. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128169;left:135">Maybe Chicago had a confidence game going,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128190;left:135">But the operations of it&#39;s denizens were more visible </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128210;left:135">And easier to successfully circumvent. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128252;left:135">A whiskery African near the Chicago Housing Authority</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128272;left:135">Confronted me one morning</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128293;left:135">As I had just crossed State Street</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128314;left:135">to attend Economics class </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128334;left:135">I was sporting a topcoat and boots </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128479;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_109"><b>Page 109</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128591;left:135">And he stopped me asking for gasoline money</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128612;left:135">Before the snapping retort I hoped to fire off </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128632;left:135">He offered me his driver&#39;s liscense </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128653;left:135">Out of curiosity I asked him to let me look at it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128674;left:135">The face on the license was a Caucasian profile. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128694;left:135">The story got better when the line changed </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128715;left:135">And suddenly the weather beaten photographic identification was his brother&#39;s. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128736;left:135">I handed it back to him and wordlessly proceeded across 33</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:10px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128732;left:565">rd</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128757;left:135">To the Escher concept building</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128777;left:135">Where I carefully noted my Indian instructor&#39;s lecture. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128819;left:135">The net result of the exchange </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128839;left:135">That I had with the quick talking Mexican</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128860;left:135">Wearing a thick chain wrapped like a tow rope and a Boss T-shirt</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128881;left:135">Was that he wanted half the product in my display</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128901;left:135">for fifty dollars. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128922;left:135">I should have predicted that he would want to put the merchandise</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128943;left:135">Into circulation himself. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128964;left:135">He gave me this &quot;Yo no tengo lo mucho dinero&quot; rap </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:128984;left:135">before I could reverse the pitch on him </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129005;left:135">And I ended up mazing my way back to 42</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:10px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129001;left:445">nd</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129005;left:458">. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129046;left:135">When I came to the realization that I hadn&#39;t eaten since noon, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129067;left:135">I blistered my drying eyes down the wide terrace of Broadway. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129108;left:135">Words sequenced along old theater buildings</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129129;left:135">Formed two parallel lyrical structures of intentionally placed</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129150;left:135">Public performance art. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129171;left:135">There were few strollers to click their heels against the humm of the motion</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129191;left:135">Back on fifth. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129212;left:135">At some point in the space between </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129233;left:135">The babblings of the signwork </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129253;left:135">I managed to detect the scribbling of Chinese. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129295;left:135">I had to cross the street</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129315;left:135">To narrow in on the menu written in English </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129336;left:135">Taped to the window within a griddle of Kanji washed flyers </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129357;left:135">In colors ranging from neon orange to pale mauve.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129398;left:135">I sat down and ordered Kung Po chicken </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129419;left:135">From a waiter wearing an arm towel </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129440;left:135">And let the cumbersome baggage of plastic and laser burned media </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129460;left:135">Rest on the chair </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129481;left:135">Fourty five degrees away. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129667;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_110"><b>Page 110</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129779;left:135">The dinner came with an egg roll, hot and sour soup, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129800;left:135">And my own tray of specially prepared tea </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129820;left:135">With tiny cups lacking handles. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129841;left:135">The teapot was ornate </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129862;left:135">With interwoven garden vines </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129882;left:135">Flowering into petals that could only have bloomed</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129903;left:135">In the climate of the opposite hemisphere of the globe. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129945;left:135">I thought back to renting Enter the Dragon </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129965;left:135">Seeing Bruce Lee pose for combat among the mirrors </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:129986;left:135">And then free associated back to my first taste of Moo Goo Gai Pan </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130007;left:135">Across from my old supervisor Rick </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130027;left:135">Who hired me for a Christmas assault on the shoppers of Summit Park Mall. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130048;left:135">I helped him open the gate of Impulse World in the week preceeding Thanksgiving. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130089;left:135">He let me listen to tapes of the Smiths, Information Society, and The Cure</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130110;left:135">Borrowed from Rob while my other friends </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130131;left:135">From the 1990 class election campaign stormed in and out </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130152;left:135">With newly purchased statues of Buddah </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130172;left:135">And several finger excercise Balls. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130193;left:135">The Fascination Street of the Orient was alive in my hometown. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130234;left:135">Customers looking for more elegant acquisitions </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130255;left:135">Sought out Kimonos </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130276;left:135">Three foot wide animated collapsing fans </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130296;left:135">And dressing blinds made of thin painted stone. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130338;left:135">I re-designed the Rad Sys dissipater software documents </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130359;left:135">Before I was invited to work outside of the co-operative for him. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130379;left:135">My fingertips cruised through the menus of WordPerfect for Dos </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130400;left:135">In a newly Moused world </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130421;left:135">until I was virtually a professional at typesetting.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130462;left:135">When I left the tip I was generous </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130483;left:135">Where else in the world can you be flooded </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130503;left:135">By an ocean of good memories </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130524;left:135">For four dollars and some change?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130545;left:135">I made it ten and the bell above the door signaled my exit. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130586;left:135">With a rejuvenated sense of Chi </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130607;left:135">I worked beyond the magnetic poetry of the Broadway signs </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130628;left:135">My foot falls finding turf all on their own as I changed streets </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130648;left:135">And crossed the uninviting face of a brownstone.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130669;left:135">What appeared to be an old factory of unknown production capacity beckoned. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130855;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_111"><b>Page 111</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130967;left:135">Cutting through unlocked portal windowed wooden doors </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:130988;left:135">I broke the threshold of the complex and found my way forward </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131008;left:135">To a freight elevator with diamonded collapsing brass rails </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131029;left:135">And climbed aboard for a ride</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131050;left:135">Not unlike one of my meddlings earlier in the day.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131070;left:135">I was hoping that this engagement would come to a similar result </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131091;left:135">To that of my morning conquest </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131112;left:135">Which had not been far from where I stood at that moment. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131153;left:135">To the general misfortune of the endeavors of humanistic reformers </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131174;left:135">Who had recently made headlines </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131195;left:135">With news of the calculating coldness of the Kathy Lee Gifford </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131215;left:135">Advertising and Manufacturing establishment </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131236;left:135">The members of which attempted to effectively put a stranglehold on market share</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131257;left:135">For women&#39;s discount business attire </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131277;left:135">Through a here to remain anonymous national retailer </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131298;left:135">My target audience for the pre-prepared shtick of my present employer </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131319;left:135">Evaporated as I assessed that these were not members </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131340;left:135">Of the privileged blue collar class of low level middle management </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131360;left:135">That I had had the good fortune of establishing</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131381;left:135">For the most part</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131402;left:135">A direct line of friendly convenience oriented one way communication </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131422;left:135">That generally concluded with an educated consumers intent to purchase. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131464;left:135">These beaten brows were those of the victims </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131484;left:135">Of the Ancient Art of War in the condition of the economics </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131505;left:135">Of the modern capitalist mode of operation </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131526;left:135">By stealthy less than aristocratic foreigners</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131547;left:135">Making a business of the corruption of the frail American Dream </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131567;left:135">That barely came to realization for a very few citizens of this country</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131588;left:135">In the time pre-dating the Johnson administration. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131629;left:135">The Sweat Shops of the city on the island were real. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131671;left:135">Above the streets of Liberty</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131691;left:135">The pale green copper heroine in all her glory stands with a torch </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131712;left:135">To light the path to Freedom </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131733;left:135">For both woman and man alike. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131774;left:135">With the dead Kennedy&#39;s she showed us the next step into orbit. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131795;left:135">Lunar Landers launched by the National Association of Space Administration. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131816;left:135">With Reagan she helped us realize the means </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131836;left:135">To align the stars in our favor </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131857;left:135">With sattelites and telescopes placed by Columbia</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:131878;left:135">and the Challenger. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132043;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_112"><b>Page 112</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132155;left:135">And with patience and progress </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132176;left:135">She will lead us toward a recognition </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132196;left:135">For the need for societal reformation. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132238;left:135">One day the bamboo cage </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132258;left:135">Housing those Missing In Action </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132279;left:135">From the front lines </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132300;left:135">Of the healthy</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132321;left:135">Educationally enabled </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132341;left:135">Family construction force </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132362;left:135">Will have it&#39;s flimsy frame unfastened. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132403;left:135">Entangled threads of stitch </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132424;left:135">will cause the fracture of the needle of brute ignorance</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132445;left:135">That binds the beauty of the imagination </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132465;left:135">Of the creatively souled Chinese American </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132486;left:135">To the fabric of the garments </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132507;left:135">Of the globally dominated Superstore consumer. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132548;left:135">Bringing the political garblings</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132569;left:135">Of my only partially aware mind </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132590;left:135">To a close, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132610;left:135">It can be concluded in abbreviated form </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132631;left:135">That the Overseer sent me away</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132652;left:135">From a battalion of potential music listeners</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132672;left:135">With two simple words </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132693;left:135">That need not be repeated for the simple sake of commonality.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132735;left:135">As he closed the wooden gate that divided me from the attention </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132755;left:135">Of the poor spirits </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132776;left:135">Of the class that goes without relief </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132797;left:135">Within the living field of possibility</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132817;left:135">That we like to reflect on</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132838;left:135">As we fixate ourselves on Network Television programming</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132859;left:135">From couches so easily earned </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132879;left:135">With the stylistic business </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132900;left:135">Of simple scientific methods learned </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132921;left:135">During the teenage years</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132942;left:135">That cannot be afforded </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132962;left:135">As a result of their contracts with the doers of the clandestine evil </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:132983;left:135">Of the philosophically, politically, and socially challenged </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133004;left:135">whose motivation lies with those residing in the valley below the river Styx. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133024;left:135">For the sake of clarification, Greed. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133231;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_113"><b>Page 113</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133343;left:135">To bring the world up to date </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133364;left:135">I am subject to the whims of greed at times. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133384;left:135">I find myself in a Casino on occasion </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133405;left:135">In an attempt to pick up Lady Fortune </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133426;left:135">And have her spin the revolving marble of her wheel </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133446;left:135">To line my pockets with lint </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133488;left:135">I see little curvature in the spines of the</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133509;left:135">Master of the Roulette wheel </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133529;left:135">He gets a full range of motion </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133550;left:135">At his long digit coded tables in Ontario </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133591;left:135">Accept my smile as a token </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133612;left:135">Of appreciation to one particular Casino Associate</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133633;left:135">From the recently opened port of Hong Kong</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133653;left:135">Of whom I am particularly fond </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133674;left:135">For his ability to light up the magic numbers</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133695;left:135">That I randomly select. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133716;left:135">He knows that there is a place for him </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133736;left:135">And the parents that gave him to Chance </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133757;left:135">Before he has scholared his first academic achievement. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133798;left:135">I&#39;m betting that he will find that place. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133840;left:135">I walked out of that Sweat Shop </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133860;left:135">Believing that I had seen</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133881;left:135">The only atrocity I would find in America </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133902;left:135">And I made my way cautiously back to my car </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133923;left:135">Where my passengers had been anxiously awaiting my arrival </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133943;left:135">For well over an hour. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:133985;left:135">We released the trunk </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134005;left:135">And four doors closed on the compact black cherry sedan. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134047;left:135">Before Joe realized that the radio wasn&#39;t playing</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134067;left:135">We were wedged in behind the freight </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134088;left:135">Of the roughly two ton carriages of engineered steel </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134109;left:135">Exiting by way of the waterfront </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134130;left:135">at the base of the urban cityscape of New York. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134419;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_114"><b>Page 114</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134531;left:135">We saw our squeegee men and rose peddlers </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134552;left:135">During the Tortoise&#39;s race back to the rails of the Washington </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134572;left:135">To engage in Mass Transit </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134593;left:135">And find our well deserved rest </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134614;left:135">At a Jersey Motel off the Garden State Parkway</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134634;left:135">But not before a quick stop in a small plaza </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134655;left:135">For multidirectional product exchanges </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134676;left:135">At a Dunkin Donuts </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134697;left:135">That never closes. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134738;left:135">I think we may have dropped a Zeppelin or two on them </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134759;left:135">And when we counted what was left </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134779;left:135">There were a few copies of that whole </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134800;left:135">&quot;I want to be a part of it&quot; compact disc </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134821;left:135">that had gone missing somehow. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134862;left:135">Hey,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134883;left:135">You never know. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:134904;left:135">This Week&#39;s Lotto Jackpot is Seventy Five Million Dollars. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135607;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_115"><b>Page 115</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135718;left:135">Truly Brilliant Orange</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135736;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135753;left:135">12/3/00 11:13:10 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135787;left:135">Jennifer,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135805;left:135">We were Aquatic together, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135822;left:135">In the Summer of 1985, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135839;left:135">We swam and sailed and skied the water together. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135873;left:135">We had dinners together,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135891;left:135">In a newly built building,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135908;left:135">At Asbury,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135925;left:135">on Silver Lake. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135960;left:135">I had a camera, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135977;left:135">But I only captured one picture of you,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:135994;left:135">Holding my hand,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136012;left:135">Your hair was a truly brilliant orange. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136046;left:135">We sat around a warm camp fire, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136063;left:135">In the middle of the week, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136080;left:135">And you hugged my cold damp shoulders from behind, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136098;left:135">While the canoes rested against the high banks of the pier. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136132;left:135">I thought I was in love at age 12, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136150;left:135">Two years before I would wear my first pair of glasses.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136167;left:135">You told me about Herkimer diamonds, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136184;left:135">And living without Rock Music. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136219;left:135">I hoped to see you the next year,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136236;left:135">When I came back. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136253;left:135">But I assume that because I never wrote back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136270;left:135">To your gem stoned letter, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136287;left:135">You decided against going the next year.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136322;left:135">I should have written back, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136339;left:135">But we would never have been able to span the distance. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136357;left:135">Someday maybe you will come to visit me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136374;left:135">In a dream or after I&#39;ve written enough.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136408;left:135">And I will get a chance to view, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136426;left:135">The colors of what you&#39;ve done, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136443;left:135">With your, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136460;left:135">Truly, Brilliant, Orange. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136795;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_116"><b>Page 116</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136906;left:135">A Fiance&#39; Not Forgotten</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136924;left:135">By Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136941;left:135">1/17/00 4:33 AM</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136958;left:135">Dedicated to Michelle Garvey</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:136993;left:135">Photographs of the two of us, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137010;left:135">Lie in a box from an old stereo, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137027;left:135">Underneath my bed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137044;left:135">With my other rememberances,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137061;left:135">Of times past.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137096;left:135">When I sift through all of them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137113;left:135">You are there in the forefront,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137131;left:135">In your purple dress,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137148;left:135">The one you wore to the prom. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137182;left:135">I remember taking rides with you,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137200;left:135">Out to the hamburger stand,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137217;left:135">In the back woods of Lockport,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137234;left:135">And eating curly cue french fries,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137251;left:135">Without ketchup.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137286;left:135">Those were the days when I was still afraid, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137303;left:135">To try certain new foods. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137338;left:135">For Valentines Day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137355;left:135">The year I came back from Chicago, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137372;left:135">We went to the Red Coach Inn,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137389;left:135">And drank flaming cofee, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137407;left:135">And you wore your blue gown,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137424;left:135">I could have sworn I would have loved you until I died. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137458;left:135">You had received the ring before then, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137475;left:135">On your graduation day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137493;left:135">After the ceremony, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137510;left:135">In my car. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137545;left:135">It had been my secret graduation present to you.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137579;left:135">Somehow,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137596;left:135">Maybe when you came to visit in Chicago,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137614;left:135">I felt like I had changed.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137631;left:135">I had seen the dark side of the male mind at 18. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137648;left:135">I cannot re-count the events of that semester, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137665;left:135">to everyone. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137700;left:135">I am fortunate that I had you to think of, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137717;left:135">And that some wit remained. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137751;left:135">It came to me later, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137769;left:135">Long after I had demanded the ring back, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137786;left:135">That it had been my own doing, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137803;left:135">And that I left your house in turmoil. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:137983;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_117"><b>Page 117</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138163;left:135">I should have realized, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138181;left:135">That you were a person too, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138198;left:135">But that realization hadn&#39;t come to me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138215;left:135">Until the recent past, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138232;left:135">When I discovered, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138249;left:135">That people hurt,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138284;left:135">That I hurt,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138301;left:135">When I think of what I did, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138336;left:135">To the girl who mattered most, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138353;left:135">In the fantasy of who we were supposed </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138370;left:135">To become, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138388;left:135">When I first imagined,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138405;left:135">That we would be married at 22. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138439;left:135">Words cannot change a life already lived, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138456;left:135">But perhaps they can heal the wounds of the past, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138474;left:135">At least in a small way.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138491;left:135">I hope that your heart mends with time,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138508;left:135">And that you find a man better than I.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138543;left:135">If I could take back the images I showed you,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138560;left:135">And swallow the last drop of alcohol I told you was safe to taste, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138577;left:135">and fall off another bench,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138595;left:135">And break my fourteenth rib, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138612;left:135">I would do it again, so that you wouldn&#39;t have</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:138646;left:135">Had to be my Eve. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139171;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_118"><b>Page 118</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139282;left:135">Radiant Dawn</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139300;left:135">by Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139317;left:135">For Dawn McKinley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139334;left:135">May 5, 1999, 6:26 AM</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139369;left:135">She rises,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139386;left:135">We watch her,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139403;left:135">Holding Hands,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139420;left:135">As the moon sets. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139455;left:135">A neighbor looks on, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139472;left:135">As we kiss, in the new light,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139489;left:135">She, who has held me through darkness,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139507;left:135">Keeps my skin warm, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139524;left:135">In the dewy morning grass,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139541;left:135">Where we sit cross legged. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139576;left:135">Smoke filters through the air, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139593;left:135">The black maple breathes in our decadence, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139610;left:135">While birds sing,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139627;left:135">Their voices cry out from all angles. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139662;left:135">A car passes through the tree lined street, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139679;left:135">A traveler is headed for work,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139696;left:135">His day is beginning,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139714;left:135">All steel and concrete, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139731;left:135">And I have you,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:139765;left:135">The Dawn of the Millennium.</div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140359;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_119"><b>Page 119</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140470;left:135">It was Thanksgiving time again,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140470;left:567">Sky Blue Irises </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140488;left:135">And I waited around the house for most of the evening,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140488;left:567">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140505;left:135">For my car to arrive, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140505;left:567">12/3/00 10:51:58 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140522;left:135">So that I could go to meet you. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140557;left:135">You were sitting in the bar when I arrived,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140574;left:135">A Lewiston Brew House,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140591;left:135">And talking with your sister. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140608;left:135">It had been 7 years since we&#39;d spoken. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140643;left:135">Chinese was still new to me on our last dining experience, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140660;left:135">I had Chicken and Mushrooms at Emperor of China, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140677;left:135">The small restaurant on Main Street served tea with the meal. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140695;left:135">And I thought I could talk to you forever. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140729;left:135">You wore a long flowing gown made of thin flowered tissue cloth,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140746;left:135">And smoked clove cigarettes across the table at me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140764;left:135">You called yourself a granola,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140781;left:135">Whatever that was, it sounded appealing to me. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140815;left:135">We were both college students,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140832;left:135">And you were not single.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140850;left:135">You suggested that we go for a walk along the gorge, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140867;left:135">And being in nature with you seemed like a nice idea. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140902;left:135">We stopped somewhere in the middle and sat on a rock, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140919;left:135">And talked and shared silence,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140936;left:135">While the sun glinted from the ripples of the water below.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140953;left:135">It was a warm summer day, and one not easy to forget. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:140988;left:135">That day traced back to afternoons marching through the sticks of the wild grass,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141005;left:135">Behind your house where we chased a frog, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141022;left:135">In seventh grade,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141039;left:135">And the time we went horseback riding,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141057;left:135">After the Haloween that I dressed as Indiana Jones for. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141091;left:135">I remember that a year earlier, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141109;left:135">You lent me a casette tape of The Cars, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141126;left:135">And I copied it, so that I could hear &quot;Magic&quot; and &quot;Hello Again&quot; over and over, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141143;left:135">And we had Spelling Bees and Studied Biology at school. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141178;left:135">At our most recent meeting,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141195;left:135">When I was staring out into space, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141212;left:135">I was thinking about whether or not I would have the courage,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141229;left:135">To strike out on my own, and somehow make myself worth your attention again.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141264;left:135">Maybe try to get a higher paying job somewhere far away from here, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141281;left:135">Or live differently, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141298;left:135">For a chance to touch your short dark hair,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141315;left:135">Or return your silent postured gaze again,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141350;left:135">Like the one I held with you for only a moment,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141367;left:135">In the first November of the Millenium, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141385;left:135">In the glaze of a chill winter evening,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141402;left:135">On Center street. </div><br /><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141547;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_120"><b>Page 120</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141658;left:135">As Winter Begins </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141676;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141693;left:135">11/16/00 9:52:48 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141727;left:135">I stand outside, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141745;left:135">The wind blustering against my face, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141762;left:135">And tugging at the wings of my jacket. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141779;left:135">The crinkling leaves are floating on the air, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141796;left:135">Around my legs. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141831;left:135">I have worked in the gym tonight,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141848;left:135">My arms and legs feel strong and warm, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141865;left:135">Against the cold. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141883;left:135">A cup of coffee on the drive home, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141900;left:135">Went well with some cigarettes. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141934;left:135">The maple&#39;s falling petals shield me from tiny raindrops, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141952;left:135">Almost snow,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141969;left:135">they flick against my face when they sneak past. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:141986;left:135">The drops induce dreams of other places, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142003;left:135">Warmer places, like Florida, or Alabama, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142020;left:135">Maybe South Carolina,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142038;left:135">Where I was born.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142072;left:135">Seeing photographs of myself as a child last night, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142090;left:135">Moved me to remember that winter can be fun,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142107;left:135">Growing up at Grammy&#39;s house,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142124;left:135">In the winter of 1977, during the Blizzard, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142141;left:135">Was terrifying and ecstatic all at once. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142176;left:135">I played with Pebbles then, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142193;left:135">A beagle with a disposition like no other, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142210;left:135">And a hunger for anything edible and visible. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142227;left:135">I also played with new toys, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142245;left:135">A plastic tennis set, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142262;left:135">And a ring stack.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142297;left:135">At Grammy&#39;s house,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142314;left:135">I could see everything wooden and green, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142331;left:135">The Christmas tree covered with glass ornaments,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142348;left:135">Sparkled in the darkness that winter. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142366;left:135">And we ate and drank, and shared the spirit of family. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142400;left:135">A couple years pass in my mind, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142417;left:135">And I find myself walking to school in the snow,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142434;left:135">Trudging along heavy packed curbs of grey, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142452;left:135">From the plows the night before. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142469;left:135">Finding my way to Maple Avenue.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142503;left:135">Around that time I played my first video game, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142521;left:135">And got my Christmas wish,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142538;left:135">To have Space Invaders to play at home, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142555;left:135">Dad tried unsuccessfully to sneak the Atari 2600, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142573;left:135">Past the doorway from his rusted blue Maverick. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142590;left:135">We enjoyed the holidays a few days earlier that year. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142735;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_121"><b>Page 121</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142846;left:135">My brother and I went sledding with my father, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142864;left:135">For a couple of years in a row,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142881;left:135">As we got bigger and stronger, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142898;left:135">The Toboggan was heavy,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142915;left:135">And Clover Hill was tall. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142950;left:135">But what a rush it was,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142967;left:135">To slide through white powder, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:142984;left:135">On the circular sleds,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143001;left:135">And that huge wooden thing,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143019;left:135">And to stop just short of the upturn,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143036;left:135">That protected us from the cars slushing by. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143071;left:135">The walk to school got further, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143088;left:135">When we started attending St. Teresa&#39;s, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143105;left:135">And the wind was colder with each successive winter, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143122;left:135">As my ears grew. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143140;left:135">But the music got louder, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143157;left:135">And clearer, and that&#39;s when I started dancing.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143191;left:135">There were winter dances at St John&#39;s school, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143208;left:135">In LaSalle, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143226;left:135">The winter of seventh grade,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143243;left:135">I found myself with Jennifer Gallheger in my arms,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143260;left:135">To the song that was prized as the most popular, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143278;left:135">For it&#39;s length, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143295;left:135">Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143329;left:135">That winter, I asked her to the movies, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143347;left:135">And we saw Top Gun,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143364;left:135">With Tom Cruise, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143381;left:135">And I held her hand,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143398;left:135">When Maverick made Kelly McGuiness quiver, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143415;left:135">But we never kissed.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143450;left:135">My cigarette burns out, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143467;left:135">And I walk back inside the house, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143485;left:135">Past the evergreen bushes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143502;left:135">In front of the space, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143519;left:135">Where I built so many snowmen.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143536;left:135">But I continue to dream,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143554;left:135">Until my fingers reach the keys, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143571;left:135">That put those dreams into words.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143605;left:135">My freshmen year at high school, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143622;left:135">I discovered Paula, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143640;left:135">Who kissed me at a homecoming dance, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143657;left:135">And we bowled together, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143674;left:135">In a league that winter. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143691;left:135">The shoes always clung to my wet socks,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143709;left:135">when I took my boots off.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:143923;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_122"><b>Page 122</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144034;left:135">I also found more video games,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144052;left:135">And left the house less,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144069;left:135">Except for shoveling snow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144086;left:135">The next few winters,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144103;left:135">As I concentrated on improving my grades. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144138;left:135">In 1991 I experienced a winter without Michelle, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144155;left:135">Alone in Chicago, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144172;left:135">Among grown boys, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144189;left:135">We celebrated a drunken Christmas party,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144207;left:135">And I didn&#39;t see them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144224;left:135">Until I had given up on school there. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144259;left:135">When I did come home, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144276;left:135">Michelle and I made up for lost time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144293;left:135">Holding each other,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144310;left:135">In front of the fireplace, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144328;left:135">On blankets laid out on the blue carpeted floor. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144362;left:135">Then there were several more winters,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144379;left:135">And I found myself standing on the street, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144396;left:135">Confronted as a loiterer. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144414;left:135">I spent Thanksgiving in a hospital, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144431;left:135">Recovering my wits. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144466;left:135">And then there was the Christmas a year later, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144483;left:135">With more of the same, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144500;left:135">Due to some Christmas Shopping anxiety nightmare, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144517;left:135">And fear of more of the same. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144535;left:135">I spent Christmas out of commission as well. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144552;left:135">The snow fell, but it didn&#39;t touch my face much. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144586;left:135">So now that the winter is starting,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144603;left:135">I hope to be prepared, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144621;left:135">I&#39;ll not be planning any wild escapades or escapes, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144638;left:135">I just want to watch the flakes fall from the heavens,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144655;left:135">And glisten on the swooping winds,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144673;left:135">that make my windows rock in the night time.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144707;left:135">On the weekends my computer will humm with electricity, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144724;left:135">While I type away, and try to figure out, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144742;left:135">all of the wonderful things it can do,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144759;left:135">And I will spend less time in the stores, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144776;left:135">And more time talking to Mom and Dad.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144810;left:135">Because when we are all together, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144828;left:135">Brothers and Sister included, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144845;left:135">There is still something special, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144862;left:135">Not to be missed : </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144897;left:135">The spirit of family, and Joy of Winter today,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144914;left:135">And Winters past, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144931;left:135">We know how to protect against the cold, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144949;left:135">And we know how to play in the snow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:144966;left:135">And we know why Christmas is. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145111;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_123"><b>Page 123</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145240;left:135">When The Fierceness of Winter Breaks</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145257;left:135">by Christopher Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145274;left:135">Dedicated to All of my Friends and Family</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145309;left:135">I will watch the flowers bloom, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145326;left:135">This broken yard chair will support me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145343;left:135">While I finish reading Homer,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145360;left:135">and Sky washes in the water, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145377;left:135">sprayed from the hose of,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145395;left:135">my seven year old brother. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145429;left:135">I can see myself at dinner again,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145447;left:135">with a special girl at a Middle Eastern restaurant, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145464;left:135">In Rochester. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145498;left:135">I will go to the hill, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145516;left:135">where I met the Salamander, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145533;left:135">And sit to write a story,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145550;left:135">And try to remember things, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145567;left:135">Like evenings in the University Library,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145584;left:135">with a world traveling friend. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145619;left:135">I know that I will spend time in, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145636;left:135">cafe&#39;s in Allentown,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145654;left:135">Meeting an occasional acquaintance, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145671;left:135">And hiding from the real me of the past. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145705;left:135">I will dream about becoming musical again.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145723;left:135">I might press down an Ivory key or two. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145740;left:135">If I am lucky the plastic ones,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145757;left:135">might lead me somewhere. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145791;left:135">I will visit my mother and my aunt</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145809;left:135">on evenings when they</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145826;left:135">are working,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145843;left:135">near the border. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145878;left:135">I will try to take Dan,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145895;left:135">to the bookstore again,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145912;left:135">and make a </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145930;left:135">day of it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145964;left:135">I will speak with my sister, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145981;left:135">and her friends in a diner,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:145998;left:135">and ask her about her,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146016;left:135">Love paper and who she&#39;s met,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146033;left:135">through her studies,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146050;left:135">And buy her boyfriend a cappuchino.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146085;left:135">Mike and I will begin our, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146102;left:135">conquering of the earth, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146119;left:135">via the internet, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146137;left:135">And Ryan will send me an e-mail, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146154;left:135">saying that he wants to know,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146171;left:135">what we have been up to.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146299;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_124"><b>Page 124</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146428;left:135">There will be a unique excursion,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146445;left:135">or two with Patrick and</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146462;left:135">Shennen will call and invite </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146479;left:135">me to see his new child, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146497;left:135">And have some Marshmallows,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146514;left:135">over a bonfire behind his</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146531;left:135">grand father in-law&#39;s old house. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146548;left:135">I might bring a rattle or some Mocassins</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146565;left:135">for the baby.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146600;left:135">I will stop by the University</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146617;left:135">to drop off paperwork and </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146635;left:135">share some of my history </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146652;left:135">with my professors</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146669;left:135">Letting Gansworth know</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146686;left:135">that I&#39;ve finally finished</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146704;left:135">reading his novel.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146738;left:135">I will give a friend a ride home from work, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146755;left:135">And finish reading the Gospel of Mark. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146790;left:135">I will spend some time in a </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146807;left:135">supermarket, and buy some</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146824;left:135">more yogurt and cream cheese.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146842;left:135">And open a can of</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146859;left:135">Spaghettios.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146893;left:135">I will participate in watching</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146911;left:135">cinema of all types,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146928;left:135">Mission Impossible 2,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146945;left:135">and anything new with Spacey or Jolene.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146979;left:135">I will try out the video phone, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:146997;left:135">and have some fun with some</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147014;left:135">Californians. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147049;left:135">And I will keep trying to remember, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147066;left:135">that Kilamanjaro,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147083;left:135">didn&#39;t have to be cold, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147100;left:135">to be deadly. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147135;left:135">And there won&#39;t be a day,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147152;left:135">that I don&#39;t think,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147169;left:135">of a thousand poems, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147186;left:135">that I will never have the time to, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147204;left:135">write about, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147221;left:135">the forever numbered leaves, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147238;left:135">of my</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147255;left:135">maple.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:147487;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_125"><b>Page 125</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:148675;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_126"><b>Page 126</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:148786;left:135">Harmonies From Within The Maze </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:148804;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:148821;left:135">Compiled 11/9/01 3:03:29 AM</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:149863;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_127"><b>Page 127</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:149974;left:135">Head Kick</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:149992;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:150009;left:135">3/6/01 5:36:28 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:150043;left:135">Kicking in the Head, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:150061;left:135">Is more fun,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:150078;left:135">Than getting head kicked. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151051;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_128"><b>Page 128</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151162;left:135">Composing</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151180;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151197;left:135">3/6/01 5:51:20 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151231;left:135">To compose, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151249;left:135">To write, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151266;left:135">To make music,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151283;left:135">And fill the ear with voice. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151317;left:135">This is something I often did,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151335;left:135">By low light, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151352;left:135">In the green room, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151369;left:135">In any season. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151404;left:135">I often dreamed of fantastic places, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151421;left:135">Robots, Planes, and Cars, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151438;left:135">Traveling together between the spaces, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151456;left:135">Left behind through time. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151490;left:135">Jotting notes down with a pen,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151507;left:135">I&#39;d make them come to life, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151524;left:135">And build the tracks with keyboard gear, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151542;left:135">To make steely drums bite. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151576;left:135">Composition is an art, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151594;left:135">A pattern of woven skills, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151611;left:135">Not quite the phantom it appears, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151628;left:135">To the weak of will. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151663;left:135">Someday I&#39;ll share my symphony, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151680;left:135">To see what people think,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151697;left:135">As they dance and dine and thrill, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:151714;left:135">To my sand washed blink.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152239;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_129"><b>Page 129</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152350;left:135">A Steak Sandwich In The Suburban Jungle </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152368;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152385;left:135">9/10/01 11:18:29 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152419;left:135">Tonight after a visit to the doctor, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152437;left:135">And a trip to the post office to mail items auctioned,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152454;left:135">At a profit of less than zero, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152471;left:135">On the commerce rails of e-bay,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152488;left:135">I ventured with my aunt and her grand schemes,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152505;left:135">To the mall in Cheektowaga, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152523;left:135">Under the assumption that we were going to pick up glasses.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152557;left:135">The optical shop at JC Penney&#39;s resides beneath a large parking awning, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152575;left:135">At the side of the mall,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152592;left:135">And allowed easy access, for my aunt, who walks with a cane. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152609;left:135">I parked the car and finished a cigarette before following her inside. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152626;left:135">The store smelled like cloth and salon gel as I entered the foyer, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152661;left:135">I went quickly to the restroom, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152678;left:135">When leaving, a father and young son debated over which stall to use. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152695;left:135">I remember having the same conversation with my father,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152712;left:135">And having the same conversation again with my young brother,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152730;left:135">In public. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152747;left:135">This choice is something men secretly learn to despise when older I believe. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152764;left:135">It is unfortunate that in the twenty first century we still are not a cleaner people. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152782;left:135">With a towel in my hands I left them to their concerns. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152816;left:135">In the optical shop, I cleaned my face of blackheads in the mirror, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152833;left:135">While listening to my aunt complain about the glasses she had purchased.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152851;left:135">I knew her secret.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152868;left:135">I thought she believed she could get a better deal elsewhere. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152885;left:135">I was quiet as I was expected to be, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152902;left:135">But inside I wanted to scream,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152919;left:135">What is this madness?</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152937;left:135">To order custom lenses and frames and then expect to return them? </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152954;left:135">People aged twenty-eight are never permitted that sort of luxury.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:152989;left:135">In any case, the optical shop was left promptly, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153006;left:135">And I drove her past Buca Di Beppo&#39;s,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153023;left:135">A place where I&#39;d had a festive dinner with friends,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153040;left:135">She noticed a sign that said Health Department Inspected, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153058;left:135">And I laughed,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153075;left:135">As if other restaurants weren&#39;t.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153109;left:135">We kept driving,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153126;left:135">And in mid travel, agreed on Pizzeria UNO, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153144;left:135">A place conveniently traveled to by Millersport and a short cut, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153161;left:135">That turned out to be not so short, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153178;left:135">Where we discussed the menu at length,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153195;left:135">And I found a steak sandwich,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153213;left:135">That suited me just fine. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153427;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_130"><b>Page 130</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153538;left:135">I used A1, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153556;left:135">Which I told her I&#39;d gotten into the habit of using,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153573;left:135">At Bob Evans,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153590;left:135">With the Steak and Eggs Special. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153607;left:135">I used the sauce liberally and enjoyed every bite, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153625;left:135">Especially the cooked mushrooms, onions, and peppers. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153642;left:135">I wanted to tell her how much the sandwich reminded me of Chicago,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153659;left:135">But it would have seemed redundant,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153676;left:135">As she already knew it was a Chicago chain.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153711;left:135">I thought back to eating Breaded Steak Sandwiches, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153728;left:135">With Bear and the other Sig Ep Brothers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153745;left:135">And going on a burrito run while listening to Jane&#39;s Addiction,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153763;left:135">With Parry Farrell screaming &quot;Coming Down The Mountain.&quot;</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153780;left:135">In the back seat of a packed Honda. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153797;left:135">I don&#39;t believe there is ever a time I felt more of a part of a group, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153814;left:135">Outside of the days when I co-ordinated the BBS&#39;ers in high school. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153832;left:135">I felt equal and free, and nervous,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153849;left:135">The blackness of the Jazz city at night, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153866;left:135">Took me in, and I was safe there, with the other explorers of our generation.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153900;left:135">But to describe this in a moment, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153918;left:135">How would it have been possible, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153935;left:135">And to someone so set,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153952;left:135">I would have needed an hour.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153970;left:135">Maybe introducing her to books was enough for a night,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:153987;left:135">After dinner I took her to Barnes and Noble for coffee, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154004;left:135">And we shared some words about design,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154021;left:135">And heroic accidents,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154039;left:135">And drank caramel coffee, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154073;left:135">With any luck we can do this again.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154090;left:135">And without as many rifts.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154125;left:135">Maybe by the time the next time comes,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154142;left:135">She&#39;ll have already dealt with the glasses. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154615;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_131"><b>Page 131</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154726;left:135">Hurling new Dough</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154744;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154761;left:135">1/27/01 9:10:07 AM</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154795;left:135">At four o&#39;clock I rushed the kitchen,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154813;left:135">Every Friday after school,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154830;left:135">For almost a year. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154864;left:135">I cleaned the dishes first, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154881;left:135">Washing my hands in the soapy lather,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154899;left:135">While the restaraunt was getting set, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154916;left:135">For dinner rush. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154951;left:135">My other kitchen help,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154968;left:135">Prepared the dough in a big metal mixer,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:154985;left:135">While we all listened to tunes on discs, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155002;left:135">Of MC Hammer or the Eagles. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155037;left:135">No one ever had to slice mushrooms,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155054;left:135">We used them from an industrial size can, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155071;left:135">But we did have to cut onions and peppers. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155088;left:135">The dough was rolled neatly into balls,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155106;left:135">And placed in plastic refrigerator trays,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155123;left:135">While what we needed was brought out,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155140;left:135">To the racks above the cutting table. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155175;left:135">When the first order would come in, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155192;left:135">From the restaraunt or the phone, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155209;left:135">The music would go a little louder, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155227;left:135">And the hurling would begin.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155244;left:135">I was nervous the first time I was asked, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155261;left:135">To go at it with the dough. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155278;left:135">I was a delivery driver, never a chef, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155295;left:135">They always flung it so high in the air,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155313;left:135">And I thought catching it might be a problem. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155347;left:135">The trick, the black cook said,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155365;left:135">Was to throw it like a frisbee, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155382;left:135">So that the rubbery stuff would stretch out,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155399;left:135">And float back to you on air. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155416;left:135">It took some faith that it would work, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155434;left:135">A flimsy aerodynamic sail, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155451;left:135">And it did come back to me, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155468;left:135">So many times that year. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155803;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_132"><b>Page 132</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155914;left:135">Now Try The Best</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155932;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155949;left:135">3/6/01 4:47:39 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:155983;left:135">Before the days of cellular, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156001;left:135">Beepers or the rest, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156018;left:135">I delivered pizza pies, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156035;left:135">For you may have guessed it,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156052;left:135">The Best.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156087;left:135">I&#39;d enter through the side door, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156104;left:135">And saunter past the stove, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156121;left:135">Where they&#39;d rest upon the oven, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156139;left:135">Warming in heat&#39;s glow.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156173;left:135">Sometimes they came with chicken wings,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156190;left:135">And often times with pop, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156208;left:135">I&#39;d grab a whole big bunch of food, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156225;left:135">And quickly leave the shop. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156259;left:135">The car door opened with one hand, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156276;left:135">So boxes red and white with heat, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156294;left:135">Could radiate their odor&#39;s through the air, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156311;left:135">While resting on my seat. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156346;left:135">If the need was there, a city map, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156363;left:135">Would help me find my way,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156380;left:135">Through traffic lights,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156397;left:135">And auto fray. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156432;left:135">The driveway was so perilous,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156449;left:135">On Military Road, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156466;left:135">That if I moved an inch too quick,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156483;left:135">Collisions might explode. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156518;left:135">The radio was often blaring,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156535;left:135">When I&#39;d start my trip, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156553;left:135">I&#39;d ease right into traffic, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156570;left:135">And take a soda sip. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156604;left:135">The tanginess of fresh made food, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156622;left:135">Lingered in the car, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156639;left:135">While I wove past shopping stores, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156656;left:135">Auto shops and bars. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156690;left:135">Then into dim lit neighborhoods, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156708;left:135">Friendlier than not, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156725;left:135">I brought hot trays and bottles,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156742;left:135">For my tipping lot. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156777;left:135">In my time I&#39;ve had a slice or two, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156794;left:135">While delivering the goods, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156811;left:135">Courtesy of management,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156829;left:135">Or makers of the loot. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:156991;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_133"><b>Page 133</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157102;left:135">The Pizza was tasty and tangy, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157120;left:135">And made just to my request,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157137;left:135">If I&#39;d worked there one more summer, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157154;left:135">I&#39;d enjoy it all again.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157189;left:135">To keep your driver satisfied, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157206;left:135">In comfort and in style, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157223;left:135">Ask him often and clearly, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157240;left:135">To come that extra mile. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157275;left:135">It&#39;s clear when you receive your wings and Za, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157292;left:135">And they&#39;ve surpassed the test, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157309;left:135">That you&#39;ve tried all the rest of them, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:157327;left:135">It&#39;s time to try the best. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158179;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_134"><b>Page 134</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158290;left:135">The Greenery of Beans</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158308;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158325;left:135">3/6/01 6:17:34 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158359;left:135">A cup of coffee isn&#39;t as simple as it looks, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158377;left:135">There is so much time in preparation,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158394;left:135">It has to start at the roots of a plant, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158411;left:135">Somewhere warm, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158428;left:135">Say for example, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158445;left:135">In Columbia or Guatemala. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158480;left:135">Then it grows into a </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158497;left:135">Ferning vessel,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158515;left:135">That is carpentered, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158532;left:135">By the hands of workers who live,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158549;left:135">Subsistantly from the land.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158584;left:135">They carry their satchels, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158601;left:135">Northward, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158618;left:135">Using horses and mules,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158635;left:135">To dispatchers,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158652;left:135">Who prepare and pack the kernels,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158670;left:135">To bring them to cafés. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158704;left:135">There is more of a dynamic, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158722;left:135">In a café than you might realize, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158739;left:135">The clerk behind the counter, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158756;left:135">Might have been a customer for years,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158773;left:135">While poets and actors gather &#39;round </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158791;left:135">To share their hopes and fears,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158808;left:135">The game players find themselves there, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158825;left:135">Imbibing in the fruit,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158842;left:135">Of laborers beyond the line, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158859;left:135">Toiling in the South.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158894;left:135">I drink it all in once again,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158911;left:135">The scenery and the scene, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158929;left:135">While writing on this tissue, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158946;left:135">Through crystalline caffeine,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158963;left:135">The people all around and about, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:158980;left:135">Are the greenery of the beans.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159367;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_135"><b>Page 135</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159478;left:135">Sketch an Edge</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159496;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159513;left:139">3/6/01 5:45:08 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159547;left:135">Third grade after counting,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159565;left:135">I&#39;d dig you from the clutter,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159582;left:135">A bright red rectangle, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159599;left:135">With a silver grey interior. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159633;left:135">I&#39;d draw my pictures, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159651;left:135">Dragging your pointer through the grey, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159668;left:135">To leave a thin black line, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159685;left:135">That would fade away with shaking,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159703;left:135">Or would fade away with time. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159737;left:135">Now I&#39;ve got a new solution,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159754;left:135">Maybe it will last a while, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159772;left:135">A mouse, a scanner, camera, printer, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159789;left:135">And an ounce or two of rhyme.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159823;left:135">Your tracing rays were easily gone,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159840;left:135">As will all the ink,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159858;left:135">When sand runs over sand again,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:159875;left:135">And at last we sink. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160555;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_136"><b>Page 136</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160666;left:135">Extra Tempestual Being</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160684;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160701;left:135">3/7/01 5:15:51 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160735;left:135">She took me in a dream,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160753;left:135">In my own clean white sheeted bed, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160770;left:135">She had a larger than normal frontal lobe, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160787;left:135">Making her eyes stretch out like a black heart,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160804;left:135">Centered on her grey nostrils.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160839;left:135">I was close to naked, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160856;left:135">And gripped the metal bars, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160873;left:135">At the side of my frame, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160891;left:135">As her touch set my sizzling spine upward.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160925;left:135">She watched me, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160942;left:135">Her head slowly tilting right, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160960;left:135">In wonderment to my response,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160977;left:135">And I didn&#39;t feel the juice, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:160994;left:135">Just the lightening in blue and magenta. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161028;left:135">Her off black shouldrers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161046;left:135">Were satined with a green-orange aura, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161063;left:135">And she faded slowly into darkness,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161080;left:135">Before I could follow to watch her fly off,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161098;left:135">through my window.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161132;left:135">She had let me know, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161149;left:135">That somewhere in Space Time, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161167;left:135">Marcus Allen Bradley would be born,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161184;left:135">Even if no earthly mother would bring him.</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161218;left:135">And I&#39;ve managed to capture,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161235;left:135">At least her essence, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161253;left:135">In at least a narrowly interested niche, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161270;left:135">In an off centered web in cyber-space, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161287;left:135">From tempera colors, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161305;left:135">She has revisited me.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161339;left:135">My Extra Tempestual Being,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161356;left:135">You saved what might have gone the way of Poe&#39;s Usher,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161374;left:135">Never to Return, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161391;left:135">And for that, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161425;left:135">I can only paint your praise. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161743;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_137"><b>Page 137</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161854;left:135">Origami Trick</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161872;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161889;left:135">1/11/01 </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161923;left:135">Unfold, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161941;left:135">Recomplexify yourself,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161958;left:135">You are my magazine, postcard, textbook. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:161992;left:135">Refold,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162009;left:135">You thicken to make,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162027;left:135">Swans, Tortoises, and Tulips.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162061;left:135">Swim,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162079;left:135">Nothing binds your skin,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162096;left:135">You are a singular wholeness on dark water, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162130;left:135">Crawl,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162148;left:135">Four legs will lean in, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162165;left:135">And travel you forward in slow steps.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162199;left:135">Grow, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162216;left:135">Like a wild mushroom, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162234;left:135">Shoot up from every acre of green. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162268;left:135">Then rest, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162286;left:135">Upon my coffee marked table, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162303;left:135">At the point of my aching pen.</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:162931;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_138"><b>Page 138</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163042;left:135">From Harlem to 42</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="2" face="Times"><span style="font-size:7px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163039;left:250">nd</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163060;left:135">By Christopher J. Bradley</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163077;left:135">3/6/01 7:05:50 PM </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163111;left:135">The daylight was smashing, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163129;left:135">Through my gunmetal frames,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163146;left:135">I could see the teeming walkers,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163163;left:135">Strolling like panthers, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163180;left:135">Beside the row of rolling tires. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163215;left:135">At each quick coming intersection.</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163232;left:135">I would have to stop and burn minutes away, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163249;left:135">From the air conditioning system, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163267;left:135">Of my curvy blackberry sedan. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163301;left:135">The cigarette smoke filled the closed car, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163318;left:135">While I fidgeted with the yohimbe, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163336;left:135">In it&#39;s little gold packet, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163353;left:135">Wondering exactly what to do with it. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163387;left:135">There was probably a warrant out,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163404;left:135">In that little truckstop region</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163422;left:135">Where I&#39;d bought the sandwich. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163439;left:135">Because I&#39;d accidentally pocketed the gold. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163474;left:135">I was among the pimps and hustlers of ninety seventh,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163491;left:135">In their &quot;For Us, By Us&quot; Jersey&#39;s and chains, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163508;left:135">They crossed every which way,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163525;left:135">In front of and behind my bumpers. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163560;left:135">While baby-mamas drove carriages, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163577;left:135">Along the smooth walks of modern harlem. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163594;left:135">I felt no panic in the daylight,</div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163611;left:135">Of a May Parade. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163646;left:135">Toward Seventieth,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163663;left:135">I could start to make out the businesses, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163681;left:135">And the street began to tighten,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163698;left:135">The pace of all the traffic quickened one step at a time. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163732;left:135">As if each press of the break pedal,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163750;left:135">Increased the speed incrementally,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163767;left:135">I seriously noticed the weaving cabs,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163784;left:135">Bright yellow with their tank-like grills. </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163818;left:135">It finally broke my nervous system, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163836;left:135">At around fiftieth when I saw,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163853;left:135">The blinking clock,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163870;left:135">Trussed to a twenty story building,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163905;left:135">Flashing 3:16. </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163922;left:135">For God so loved the universe,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:163939;left:135">That he brought me to it&#39;s apex…</div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164119;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_139"><b>Page 139</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164248;left:135">And I rode to 42</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="2" face="Times"><span style="font-size:7px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164244;left:234">nd</div><br /></span></font><br /><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164248;left:244">, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164265;left:135">And swung off left, </div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164282;left:135">To look for parking,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164299;left:135">The ramps were available, </div><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164317;left:135">But for what I had to give,</div><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:164334;left:135">There was no room to slow down. </div><br /></span></font><br /><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:165307;left:0"><hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="eeeeee" align="right"><font face="arial,sans-serif"><a name="0.1_140"><b>Page 140</b></a></font></td></tr></table></div><font size="3" face="Times"><span style="font-size:12px;font-family:Times"><br /><div style="position:absolute;top:165418;left:135">Grand Central Station</div><br /><div styl