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Now!
My dreams evolved I
hunted dangerous villains endured
frustrating replays silent explosions
slept through unrepeatable dialogue
What happened that day
once black and white
facts assume cloud colors
white evolves into gray
the shading of justice
the penetration of revenge
into the clean heart
of reason and truth
desire lodges in memory
etched on parchment membranes
wired to recall zones
it rained or drizzled
wipers pounded their rhythms
for drivers for bombers
for pain for thrills
a discordant timpani score
for unmade police procedurals
my phone rang urgently
it seemed in memory
awful worst accident ever
she said I said
it must have been
did she really say
those words did I
hesitate before resuming routines
interrupted by vibrating hysteria
informed cab driver wove
around ribbons crime scene
filled with vacuum clearers
sweepers technology nullifying
blood's indelible stain Sheridan's
horse kicks in outrage
I expected to sense
ghosts scouting his office
when I opened drawers
scooped rolodexes into bags
scoured surfaces for names
They would look then
Ask I would lie
defy perhaps qualify my
answers with deep righteousness
I stared at her
desk reflecting first rays
late morning sun illuminating
dust specks would they
find her roach stash
her legacy of freedom
to the non inhalers
I now think of
benches passing joints on
Dupont Circle getting thirsty
dog days of summer
demanding a playful release
The police dogs of
autumn sniffing snarling
growling handlers gripping taut
leashes saliva leaking from
white fangs frightening weeping
friends colleagues without words
Sun shone dogs yelped
encircled a culprit car
aliens arrived aimed divining
rods at motionless metal
technology discovered stems seeds
I tried to laugh
I relived the night
before or the night
before that leaning against
the loaded car laughing
planning deeds of virtue
his confidence his grin
or did we talk
trivia gossip about friends
Trials came and went
like seasons of justice
surprises and disappointments news
and rumors sickness death
friends and lovers dividing
marrying moving giving birth
A casting director changed
characters in my dreams
old desperados faded into
recesses of overcast memory
The dead have grown
quiet undisturbed by change
unmoved by determined comrades
seeking retribution cleansing stains
of evil near high
hooves of courageous Sheridan
The high priest of
geriatric scoundrels spent his
dotage avoiding judgments unable
to mend fraying nets
with puerile words that
once moderated his duplicity
I stopped hunting stored
my non existent weapons
struggled not to invoke
his feeble image imagine
him barking orders to
obliterate enemies for greater
good reaping profits diverting
dreams blemishing memory's path
My friends' photos confuse
My memory words smiles
Tumble in mind's dryer
A dying image evolves
"Trunkless legs of stone"
Discordant tempered trumpets
disturb
Continue to agitate common
Serenity murder forever poisons
the place infects joy
"To the sea itself"
Shifts focus corrupts laughter
We wrestle with memory.
September 5, 2006
Saul Landau's new book, A Bush and Botox World,
will be published by CounterPunch Books.
Rumor And Report/ Legal
Kill
By ROBERT A. DAVIES
A guy was reported to be pointing
a gun
at another guy's head in an apartment above the tavern
four squad cars appeared
snipers on roofs
library and tavern clientele across the street locked in.
"I stepped out of the
library on 23rd
started to walk by a guy
open mouthed, sitting in a kiosk
"passed a grizzled old
man
turned back,
the old man was holding a handgun!
pointed at a street person with a Ho Chi Minh beard.
"I just knew I could do
this.
I said, 'Say , feller'
and then, looking at him,
'You don't want to do this.'
"The guy slipped the gun
into his denim jacket
walked across the street to the tavern
and I walked home."
But I just knew, he told his
wife
who screamed, Stupid!
And he thought maybe it was.
Robert A. Davies lives in Portland, Oregon.
Now
Available
from CounterPunch Books!
The Case
Against Israel
By Michael Neumann
CounterPunch
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