DUMPLINGS

Hello? What's this?

You telling me you're a virgin? 

What?

Come, now! You've been there  before!

No! I'm not referring to your 'bermuda triangle'!

It's 'brazillian', actually...do I need a touch up?

     (his head pops up from under the sheets)

...I've certainly seen that before...but, the 'other'... There's ink on your belly."

I know. Sad, ain't it? You never noticed?

No. 

C'mon...

So...In all this time...you been 'entertaining' squid?

Stop it. It's just so sad.

I dunno. What's it supposed to be? Can't tell..

It started out, as an inscription over my heart but, you know...

time and gravity ?

Yeah, that and a few tons of blubber...OW! OOOOWWWW!! Damn it!

That was the cruelest thing anyone has ever said...

Ripping out my pubes ranks right up there....damn !

Lesson learned. Here, want'em back?

You keep 'em.

I'll do that...and put ‘em in your soup.

So what is it? Your belly? I can't tell...between...between...

Be very careful here...

The folds?

Bastard.

So?

It's a poem. Something I wrote in high school.

That's a poem? There are words? How drunk were you?

Wasted. ...high ...fucked up ...senior year...

Ah, the rebellious bohemian. Hippie?

Slutty biker hog.

Oh...

Fuckin' with Ya...more of a 'hapless romantic'

So what's it say? Tell me. Tell me your poem.

Noooo...! Read it! That's what it's there for!

Okay, but help me out. Won't need my glasses. Roll over on your back...good...now can you kinda move the folds…stretch something back?...lift there…good..start at the top. Yeah...okay...I see it:

I am dawning...I shall be the sun (stretch)...light (Up) growth and warmth...shall be mine...annn'...I will give freely...(lift) ...until the day set.    

  

Pretty fuckin idealistic, and it hurt like hell.

Cute, really! Painful, yet Profound...naïve, but not stupid. Which one of you was wasted?

What?

...you or the Tattooist?


Both, I guess. It was a balcony in Mexico...he was 'practicing', and I was 'experimenting'. Margaritas in the sun. He just got released...what the fuck...it's all-inclusive. That, and he was 'out-of-here' tomorrow.

I could care less about 'the backstory'. Was there a 'proof reader' ? 

WHAT?  ...why?! 

...was there?

HE liked to 'proof-read his own material'

What fucked-up-felon wouldn't?

Why? What's wrong?! Are you shitting me? I can't read it. Something wrong? Shit! I tried, but you try to read through this...backwards...in a motel mirror! Shit!

So, in-the-end you were "In" the Sun, but NOT the Sun.

In the end, I consumed much more than I provided...some cold, dim, sun - bitch, was I.

Dim sum sounds good...let's eat. Wanna go downstairs?

No. You go. Fried rice, orange chicken, mushu pork...extra wrappers, don't let them cheat you this time...mixed appetizers...egg flower...

Is that to split?

Noooo! Get your own.

Why don't I just get the Family Meal for 6...four entrees, soup, sides, cookies?


Works for me.

You got cash? I'm broke.

No shit. Put a shirt on. Nobody wants to see that gut...money is in the jar, unless you already took it.

Right. Got a good feeling about the Lottery...kidding! 

I want to see the receipt. No lottery tickets.

Fine. Anything else?

God I love you.

Well it came true!

What did?

I shall be dim sum...Look at Ya layin' there.

GodDAMN! I hate you....extra Almond cookies....

    ( door slam)

             ...and grab the candies from the counter-bowl! We're payin' for 'em! 





v

ghost of baywood

V 

nuts

V

p   a   s   a   d   e   n   a

Just Tired, Denise.

I don't know. I'm just tired, Denise, you know? Tired like the ache in your bones seem to belong there and you just have to suffer through it, too long ago to remember different. There was a time I could run, I could throw, I could jump, and I can almost feel it in my head, but the rest no longer processes the reflexes necessary to carry out the acts, the actions. And isn't "action" itself at this stage, at this age, pointlessly, recklessly, attempted, and intended instead to be ruthlessly avoided? 

I believe we have no choice, really.

There are fit fellows out there!

Fit for what? Nothing?!

You'd be surprised if you saw them!

Make me feel like a school girl again? Ha! Now there's a bridge too far...trying to remember those days...those emotions...OH the emotions! Such a mad, wild child. 

I remember.

Oh, You! You calmed me down! I was older and ready to be settled, not that I knew it before I knew you... lucky you.

Don't I know it.

I doubt you would have dealt with the wild and stupidly wicked girl that inhabited this skin back then.

Oh, I've witnessed the wicked, I think I'd be aware...and I so love that skin...your flesh...lean in, let me smell your hair, your neck...yes, there...lost again.

No one ever knocked my knickers off like you, Johnny.

Don't stop with the flattery, but promise me that you won't be lonely without me. Go back and find that wild wicked child - she's still inside there.

Ha! No Johnny, she's not. She was only wild because she was lost, but you found her, cleaned her up, and set her on the right path.

I never intended to dictate...

You never did. I admired you so...still do...I loved you so...still do. You gave me someone to walk with. I could breath with you, keep pace with you, enjoy the view. I never did that before you, John. I never noticed anything but my own wretched reflection.

Wretched?!  How dare you speak of your beautiful self in such a way. Look at yourself!

That was the problem, John, that's all I looked at. You changed that. The narcissistic little flower withered away, but you tended the plant that remained, and look what we grew to be.

Vines entwined.

Yes, vines entwined over time. Go ahead, just try to separate us!

Denise, I am tired.

Shhh...

I'm afraid this vine is dying dear. But you are strong, you'll...

Stop, Johnny, please.

I am withering. Don't prop me up, Denise. Let me fold while ahold of you, and not some pumps, and tubes, all drugged and confused. If feeling the pain, means feeling your love, your touch, that's all I ask, is that too much?

You never asked too much, John. That was my job, and you gave freely. To a fault.

Never.....enough...

Just hold me, Johnny. Just hold me tight.

Goodnight, Denise...goodnight. I…

photo - late night

N i g h t s t a n d

W  a  t  e  r

THE POODLE ON THE ROOF

You know, Louis, it's not easy to sound profound.

Perhaps if you didn't try so hard...?

What?

I mean, well, what's the sense of it?

But that's the very point! What IS the sense of it? It's absurd! Tragic!

What is?

Life! Chaotic...tragic....illogical...no Matter how logical we claim to be as a species, we' re doomed by our own stupidity!

Oh, I doubt that.

Exactly. You, being an excellent 'Case-in-point'. You doubt that life is absurdly mad?

Reality is its own reality!

What?  Did you just say say that?  Pretty damn Profound yourself, Mister!

Shit happens...

Cliche. But true. Poodle on the roof....

‘Poodle on the roof...’?

I told you about that! Just last week...? No?

....I think I would remember.

I was riding in on the bus...

The bus? And the poodle was where?

Petrol and parking are killing me! You walk …stroll…just a few blocks to work each day, you have no idea of a commute, do you? The cost...the traffic...

Oh, I know, I know...and its a pretty penny I pay for the privilege to live in town. At least when you get home you can breath!…and see some greenery. You have deer!  Here? It can get damn bleak surrounded by all this concrete…the racket, the fumes....which brings us back to the bus… what's this to do with the poodle?

Lunacy! Absolute lunacy!

What is?

We're riding along, just coming into the city. Of course, we hit the gridlock, it's morning rush. Expected and despised on a daily basis. Everyone is bleary, some drink their coffee...tea...some trying to squeeze in another wink, I know I couldn't do it, but some can...I guess.

Sleep on the bus?

Exactly.

I could never...so, the poodle?

So we're riding along...trudging along and the next thing you know a lady at the back lets out a blood curdling scream.

Oh!

You can imagine what passengers are thinking! Everyone, startled! ...Coffee, spills, people howling from that, and the steaming hot tea!…they're screaming, total panic. The "slumbers" end abruptly, as, there it came, passing on the left, a car, rolling up alongside us, with a poodle on the roof!

No!

Yes! Little white thing just clinging to the roof for dear life!"

How could it possibly hold on? Oh, my god, poor thing!

Can you imagine? We...all of us on board...we rushed the windows, but they're all sealed, and we're pounding and screaming, people actually threw themselves against it! Helpless! Even the driver was honking his horn and swerving over a bit to get her attention, but as luck would have it, the next lane over opened up and the poodle went with it, and still the driver of the car...a woman, well dressed... had some coin...wore the bling...it I was a Rolls...she scoots over and just cruised on, absolutely clueless! 

With all that going on?

From above her sightline, it was hard to get her attention. The bus driver honked the horn repeatedly but she was oblivious. I don't know if she had her music cranked up or was in a heated conversation, but, regardless...oblivious!

How is that possible? To be so self involved....forgetting your dog on top of your car! Ignoring a busload of people! Ignoring a BUS!

Car horns blaring!

Car horns!! How is that even possible!? Oh, no. Tell me you didn't all see it d...demise !?

Like I said, She just drove on, she was gone. We never knew.... Some people looked for it as we rolled slowly along watching the road below, which I found touching, by some..and macabre, by others…,but, most, I think felt defeated, and justifiably… they did not want to know. A few sensitive ones, they cried and soothed one another. One lady needed comforting more than most. She was quite shaken…near hysteria. She had owned a similar dog, from what I gathered.

"Poor Pablo! Poor Pablo! Poor Pablo!"

"Pablo" was her poodle….?

I presume.

That's just shocking...

But do you see my point? We are helpless. You ride along, you observe the absurdity, the tragedy, the stupidity and are helpless to change it. Just a witness to the passing parade. A poodle on a Rolls. The homeless, the helpless, no where to go, huddled in doorways and benches, feeling the cold, and we're just riding along in the bus observing...

Bet the woman in the Rolls never notices…

Wealth has it's privileges.

Ignorance is the ability to ignore .

There you go!

What's that...?

You almost sounded profound. Congratulations.

No, thanks. Not at the expense of the dog…

Agreed. To the Poodle.

To Pablo.