Friday, September 22, 2006

Millions of These Particles Fall Onto the Earth Everyday

It was one of those days that made me worry
I had fallen down that elevator shaft into

someone else’s dream. All morning I thought
of it, queasy, stirring my coffee with a pencil,

sharing my bathroom stall with a Lipizzaner,
who I think blushed as much as I. The angora

rabbit in the cubicle next to mine sprayed her
plastic roses with a violet-scented air freshener

until I sneezed my chair into the conference room.
The woodchucks paused with vague hostility,

then continued their power-point presentation.
I finally realized I had forgotten to wear pants

and there was turtle clamped around my crotch.
Closing time was early, around 3, because of

the holiday the following Monday or because
there was a fire in a boat somewhere off the

coast of our mother. I gave up trying to get off
my turtle with a fork and decided to ride a mule

home, rather than the subway,
though it was

a bit more
expensive.

2 comments:

Max Bouillet said...

I scooped up your words, placed them in a filter, and draped them carefully around the interior of my skull. While shutting the lid to let them percolate, I sneezed. Your words went all over the place. Damn, those violet-smelling roses. This caused the woodchucks to pause again –and you think they were upset before! Next thing I knew, I was sharing a mule with a stranger with angora on her shoulder, a bent fork between her legs, and a damp pencil behind her ear. It wasn't completely bizarre, though –at least we had matching turtles.

Surrealistically yours,

Max

Christine E. Hamm, Poet Professor Painter said...

Thanks, Max. Very interesting riff.