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Alan Catlin |
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He was about as far sighted as the guy who had been abusing prescribed pills for years & never read the warning labels that sd: Prolonged use of this medication could lead to: serious vascular problems hallucinations delirium & in extreme cases, Death Discouraging words to most men but not him In fact he was actually glad he hadn't read the warnings sooner On the Road to Khe Sanh after David Burnett Personnel carriers on rutted pavement in perpetual false dawn: a haze of past fire fights, bombing runs, defoliants dropped, phosphorous chemically remade rain forests as wastelands; almost invisible in murky greydark light, a lone ghostship Huey copter suspended in mid-flight; below the fuselage, draped in black, an unknown cargo, burden hung by invisible guy wires. This is the way his world ends, in a communal shower still dressed for the street in his Salvation Army rags, appealing to the fixed heads where the water streams, gathering strength from unseen forces, pipes locked, hidden behind concrete walls, gathering steam envelopes as he struggles, as he attempts to construct a coherent argument that life should go on, all the while losing vital fluids, signs, strength, his virility streaming down these ominous, these sucking drains as he pleads with the pressure to provide him with a reason, the ability to go on, out there where a chorus of voices is waiting, waiting to deliver sermons, instructions only he can hear. When smoke gets in your eyes was the theme of their love affair in black & white some- thing they con- ducted in out of the way cafes, cigarette smoke filled nights of Humphrey Bogart movies on silent bar TVs, way too loud public speakers fueled by bogus cocktails, excuses to get crazy, drop their trou while husbands, spouses, significant others were away on business, visiting the sick, having affairs of their own. Afterwards the scent of cigarettes a dead giveaway nothing was as it seemed. [Index] |
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Thunder Sandwich #26 - Summer/Fall 2005 |
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