pubescent
hoodlum-in-training eighth grade boys bloody
bruised and battered
scratch and teeth marks asunder
like red silk ribbons flowing in abundance
mauled and abandoned wailing aftermath hog hounds
Troy Newberry nowhere to be found
Monroe in the front yard
holding a broken bed slat in one hand
a ball peen hammer in the other
crowing like a bantum rooster
for the good of the School Board
Troy Newberry was allowed to
drop out of junior high school early
and at the same time take Driverâs Training
to get his license on his fourteenth birthday
moved in with his uncle Cephas Bilberry
and took up immediately with his obese Scotch-eyed daughter
Monroe finished the year
graduated from junior high the next
then went off radar
disappearing into the realm of myth and legend
for seven years until someone saw the advertisement
in the Dispatch and elevated it to first page rumor mill status
Notice to all Men 17 or older:
You are invited by your Uncle Sam
to come to the U S Army Recruitment Office
3006 24th Street Lubbock, Texas
see Staff Sergeant Monroe Newberry
to inquire regarding Career Opportunity
under the Guaranteed Europe Enlistment Policy
and even Mr. Byron Edgers
who was by then the Grade School Principal said
at the monthly Board meeting
Well maybe there is a God after all
and a happy ending besides in fairy tales
but whoâd a thunk it?
Johnny Bert Ezell
Head of the School Board that night
whispered Good boy
I knew you could do it
Fourth Visitation
Look at that cow groom her calf
that there is a lady of elegance if I ever saw one
and by god knows exactly
what Iâm saying about it
donât you, you persnickety senorita bonita
Iâd appreciate the hell out of it
you being a man of letters
if you wouldnât repeat the following
until Iâm gone
but her name is Juliet
I wonât insult you
by mentioning the bullâs name
just that this time they made it
unstrangled by their tethers
so what do you have to say about that?
What They Say
When Larry Joe Williams invoked them
that evening at Adolphâs Bar and Cafe
Billy Klogphorne rose like Lazarus from his stool
to begin walking with a purpose away somewhere else
to which Larry Joe said Whar you going
I aint finished yet?
so that Billy said to Larry Joe
Thatâs what I feared
but you gave me prologue excuse
I sincerely desired to the point of prayer
Which is what? said Larry Joe
The invocation of an element of imagined society
named They
which does not, has not, and will never exist
but whose ultimate authority referenced gives imprimatur
to proceedence from nonsense through hyperbole
to authentication by summons
of the universal arbiter who will allow the invoker
to propound ideology he does not comprehend
and thereby create pretence of knowledge
emanating from the invented sources
he actually on this earth never encountered
nonetheless feels perfectly qualified
to repeat verbatim those elements these ethereal geniuses
of his imagination who incidentally
always happen to agree exactly with him
think, believe, and say to an audience of one
and Billy rising sauntered in search of elsewhere libation
to which Larry Joe Williams opined
What did he say just then
does any of yall known what that was about?
so that Ollie McDougald summarized
To the best of my knowledge
he said They say
you are full of shit
and if thatâs what they say
I believe it has to be a fact
and that, Larry Joe, is, exactly as they say,
all they are to it
Idyll Thursday night, Adolphâs, Lake Hills, Texas
This is everywhere Iâve ever been
âJohn Sims
Do you like being drunk?
Well hell no
whereâd you get such of a stupid idea?
I like getting drunk
being drunk isnât much special
getting over being drunk
makes you wonder
why the hell you did that again
but when you start all over
well thatâs where the difference is
* * *
Heard Jane Lynn sheâs
hoodlum-in-training eighth grade boys bloody
bruised and battered
scratch and teeth marks asunder
like red silk ribbons flowing in abundance
mauled and abandoned wailing aftermath hog hounds
Troy Newberry nowhere to be found
Monroe in the front yard
holding a broken bed slat in one hand
a ball peen hammer in the other
crowing like a bantum rooster
for the good of the School Board
Troy Newberry was allowed to
drop out of junior high school early
and at the same time take Driverâs Training
to get his license on his fourteenth birthday
moved in with his uncle Cephas Bilberry
and took up immediately with his obese Scotch-eyed daughter
Monroe finished the year
graduated from junior high the next
then went off radar
disappearing into the realm of myth and legend
for seven years until someone saw the advertisement
in the Dispatch and elevated it to first page rumor mill status
Notice to all Men 17 or older:
You are invited by your Uncle Sam
to come to the U S Army Recruitment Office
3006 24th Street Lubbock, Texas
see Staff Sergeant Monroe Newberry
to inquire regarding Career Opportunity
under the Guaranteed Europe Enlistment Policy
and even Mr. Byron Edgers
who was by then the Grade School Principal said
at the monthly Board meeting
Well maybe there is a God after all
and a happy ending besides in fairy tales
but whoâd a thunk it?
Johnny Bert Ezell
Head of the School Board that night
whispered Good boy
I knew you could do it
Fourth Visitation
Look at that cow groom her calf
that there is a lady of elegance if I ever saw one
and by god knows exactly
what Iâm saying about it
donât you, you persnickety senorita bonita
Iâd appreciate the hell out of it
you being a man of letters
if you wouldnât repeat the following
until Iâm gone
but her name is Juliet
I wonât insult you
by mentioning the bullâs name
just that this time they made it
unstrangled by their tethers
so what do you have to say about that?
What They Say
When Larry Joe Williams invoked them
that evening at Adolphâs Bar and Cafe
Billy Klogphorne rose like Lazarus from his stool
to begin walking with a purpose away somewhere else
to which Larry Joe said Whar you going
I aint finished yet?
so that Billy said to Larry Joe
Thatâs what I feared
but you gave me prologue excuse
I sincerely desired to the point of prayer
Which is what? said Larry Joe
The invocation of an element of imagined society
named They
which does not, has not, and will never exist
but whose ultimate authority referenced gives imprimatur
to proceedence from nonsense through hyperbole
to authentication by summons
of the universal arbiter who will allow the invoker
to propound ideology he does not comprehend
and thereby create pretence of knowledge
emanating from the invented sources
he actually on this earth never encountered
nonetheless feels perfectly qualified
to repeat verbatim those elements these ethereal geniuses
of his imagination who incidentally
always happen to agree exactly with him
think, believe, and say to an audience of one
and Billy rising sauntered in search of elsewhere libation
to which Larry Joe Williams opined
What did he say just then
does any of yall known what that was about?
so that Ollie McDougald summarized
To the best of my knowledge
he said They say
you are full of shit
and if thatâs what they say
I believe it has to be a fact
and that, Larry Joe, is, exactly as they say,
all they are to it
Idyll Thursday night, Adolphâs, Lake Hills, Texas
This is everywhere Iâve ever been
âJohn Sims
Do you like being drunk?
Well hell no
whereâd you get such of a stupid idea?
I like getting drunk
being drunk isnât much special
getting over being drunk
makes you wonder
why the hell you did that again
but when you start all over
well thatâs where the difference is
* * *
Heard Jane Lynn sheâs
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