NOTEBOOK PAGE

For Norman Dubie 

 

By mid-summer a crest of interest in cider and code. A proxy named William shall be raised to the sky whose designation is now the Consummate Irrigation of Sorbet. The votive-name shall be a whispered glottal stop and all meat shall be quartered, potatoes halved, puddings poured then cooled into foundation blocks. Erotic mythologies shall by means of increased levies see improvement and national pride attached thereby to newer graceful shuntings. Meanwhile, all girls perform engineering calculations, while boys under subtle duress move about the kitchen in heels and tight rhetorical skirts. The elders find themselves banned from uttering the phrase “for the sake of solids, gasses, liquids, and plasma.” Mandatory diaries the only literary form permitted. Haphazard entry-scrawl made punishable by lash. 

Feb. 7^th : Dreamt of venturing. 

Feb. 9^th:  Looked for residuum.  

Feb. 10^th : Tree planting below thunder. Wore thrift-store khakis.

March 2^nd: A bird. Coo coo! Coo coo!

March 5^th:  Wore fedora and serge vest. Pitiless is the sun. Lost 

                                        a shovel. 

                                                        Found a shovel.

And in cheerless cavities of the Blind Consortium of the Low Fowle University scholars dim as talcum settles. A frantic, funicular hummingbird gutters like a candle in the garage with broken windows. The gods of the north have finally fallen asleep. They wear tunics bloodied by red muds from the long trench.