If a penny saved is a penny earned
I guess that’s great for me
But what’s a coin tossed down a wishing well
Or a wish for something free
All I have are these loincloths
Fit for no more than a flea
So i may as well be wishing
While Im broke as broke can be
Let me tell you something that I have learned Spitz
Concerning young men and discerning
First kisses, endless riches, bluer heavens, warmer veil
Do these things ring a bell?
Tell me were these the wishes you cast down the wishing well
‘Well , sher, what gives.’
You think it no ill offense?
Have you done this much since?
‘Yes, I do it quite a bit.’
Do you have little holes in your pockets
Or just no common sense
I don’t care if its six-pence
Or a 100 dollars and forty cents
No man can afford, to go throwing wishes down a well.
It’s those thoughts you gain a penny for, to which we must avail.
I do say,
You’d be a dime a dozen, these days, simply not to sell- all your money for
two bales of hay- and hope they lay an egg.
Now spitz, carry on your merry way
Take this pail and fetch some water
And don’t forget the things I say.
And it’s not that I forgot
I just thought I’d not remember it instead
I kissed a penny and I said
'With you, I’ll wish me well’
And as that penny fell
I realized it was my last
And instead of wishing for a magic carpet
Or to find the Holy Grail
I wished I hadn’t dropped it
Down that wishing well
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Signs and Wonders.
You know when your trying to sign up for something online, and they make you type in the slightly skewed word or words that showup in a little box. It could be hotcan polo- so you type 'hotcan polo'. Or maybe its ghiran jilletey or some nonsense. So you sigh and type 'ghiran jilletey'. Well, i was once trying to sign up or buy something or the other online while also talking to my brother about miracles. He believes they still happen. I dont. We always quote a line from No Country for Old Men, when a scraggley officer sais, "Signs and wonders" with a considerable amount of gruff. We find these strange things humorous. So it was somewhere around the time that he was impersonating the officer and I was saying- 'you need to quit with this miracle business', that the online form asked me to type the words that I saw in the box. And I saw the following:
WO!' I jumped up a tad shaken. My last name happens to be Villa, and for the 'reform' part- well considering the dialogue- I decided something wanted me to stop yapping about life as if its just rolling dice. I saved the image, theres no font in microsoft word to match- this is really what popped up in the box. I know nobody was walking on water, but still- like me and brother always say: 'Signs and wonders'..
WO!' I jumped up a tad shaken. My last name happens to be Villa, and for the 'reform' part- well considering the dialogue- I decided something wanted me to stop yapping about life as if its just rolling dice. I saved the image, theres no font in microsoft word to match- this is really what popped up in the box. I know nobody was walking on water, but still- like me and brother always say: 'Signs and wonders'..
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Dont take my word for it.
If it was at all possible to condense my experiences, my life thus far, my existence, into an adequate testimonial- the length would scare the reader away at first glance. And by testimonial, I do mean a testimony of how God has saved me from a bitter, hopeless life. I have been trying to write this out for some time, only finding that I am a fat klutz in semantics and a perfectionist without the patience to perfect the message. Especially this message. For the message I want to proclaim I feel needs so much eloquence, fluency, and passionate expression that I could never be happy with a written result. I may be able to gather all these writings together one day and present to you the manic fool that I have been while running away from God, and then contrast this with the gleaming truth of a life centered on Him. That piece, I'l call my testimony. That message, the one God calls me to proclaim, I would much rather you see animated in my own life. Now, I have had a dificult time being 'animated' in my belief. And I would like to warn you of a pitfall I have nearly destroyed myself in: Trying to understand God. At the rate I was going, I would have driven myself into a hermit hole obsessing over my inability to understand God, my inability to love something I don’t understand, and my inability to trust His design. Yes, these things all can create quite a stubborn lack of faith. There is no end to doubt. I take that back, there is only one end to doubt- and it’s a bitter one. But let’s go back to my inabilities, and focus on the fact that they are my inabilities. Not Gods. If you must know, I have proclaimed christianity for years now, but found the practicing quite difficult. The only thing I want you to draw from my past is that it has consistently lacked faith. How can you be a Christian and not have faith? I’m not quite sure, I was intimidated by this proposal- and my reply if ever cornered on the issue was.. ‘I just do’, all the while thinking- ‘and I also don’t’.. What is this line of thinking.. who knows- maybe you can relate to some extent. Now let me tell you what the Bible sais: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1) This one verse- which is both profound and simple (As is the beauty of the Bible) brought to me such an arcane sensation of warmth. Maybe your re-reading the verse, seeing if you missed something, thinking ‘what is this guy talking about’.. It wasn’t just the verse, it was so many other things that God used- and unfortunately, you would have to be me to fully understand how one simple verse can be felt in such a manner. But here is what I want you to take away from this little blog entry. Every realization, I wanted to be my salvation. I wanted to understand the gospel until it made sense and through understanding- find God. This is so dangerous. Reading the scripture is one thing, living it- is another. I would read some, get frustrated, and then continue in spiritual incoherence. How can faith be real to you, if you are not living the Scriptures. You cannot read about the moon, and then tell someone you’ve been there. You cannot know the texture of the ground until you have stood upon it. In our case, in the Christians case, we must live the word. I am not telling you to quit reading it, but in my experience- faith is manifested in living the truths of the gospel. I’m not sure how I’ve gotten the idea that faith could not be realized until it was understood. The understanding comes, in the living. How could I love God, if I did not pursue a relationship with Him? How could I understand his design, if I was stuck in my own? We are commanded not to lean on our own understanding. I disobeyed. Like I said, I’m a bit of a manic fool. I still got plenty in me, but letting go of my own finite ability to understand and putting faith in God, and praying to Him.. has been so freeing- truly indescribable. There’s so many more beautiful things I could tell you about faith- but really- the Bible is much better at it. I’d point you that way. Just know- your rational, your logic, you ability to reason, is so crippled and will lead you into all sorts of terrible places. I would know. Especially when you try to line your own ideas up with God’s. There is no freeing the mind, there is no opening the mind. The mind is undoubtedly a prison, of which there is no earthly escape. And within the confines, Satan plays cruel tricks on us. Simple and profound- Christianity is.. I’ll tell you, I’m as stubborn and proud as they come, cruel as a catheter, and apathetic.. but the Scriptures, they melt even the most deep-rooted sins, they really do transform us and make us new.. I’ve heard it said- we are not just born again- we are born again, and again, and again.. I love this. But, dont take my word for it, take God's Word- and live it.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Guilty of kidnap
I received a polite email from a gal named Vicky suggesting that I actually attend the meetings that were required of the summer interns. ‘If you want to actually write for the paper, you may want to start by actually writing for the paper.. and showing up to the mandatory meetings.. and showing a little responsibility.. ’ she listed out a few other civil suggestions in response to my evident languor. I had been in the program for a few weeks without a story to my name. It was the sticky clam summer of 2008 and I was more interested in long walks around green lake with a charming brunette than I was sitting behind a typewriter. Add to stack, the frugality of pennies in a tin can, literature is easier read then written, and talk is cheaper than action- of which I must have thought- I could not afford.
Maybe I would have been a little more willing if I wasn’t tasked to write articles about kitchen utensils and statues on campus. ‘Can’t I write about the drunk kids falling to their death out of fraternity windows, or about that wacky dingbat that rides around on his bike all night looking for fights to break up with his tasor gun?’ What a silly cramp for a budding writer. But I am in the study of poltical science, writing fluff was not the problem- the burnette was the problem. Ok- I was the problem. Either way, Vicki let me know that the upcoming meeting was to be the most important of all meetings- with an important guest speaker- and if I failed to make an appearance, I shouldn’t bother ever appearing around her again. Well, fair reader, I did not show.
Now, anyone whose anyone (which I suppose would be everyone) that knows me- can tell you that I’m all about appearances. So why, you may be asking yourself, did I not appear to this- the most important of all meetings..? I’m glad you asked yourself.
I think I can satisfy your curiosity by explaining how a kidnapping comes into fruition:
First of all.. kidnappings don’t just poof up out of a magic lamp-
You only find yourself tangled up in a kidnapping after a strange and slapdash web of events has been spun.
It all started with a phone call demanding I volunteer for deployment. ‘Ok’ I thought out loud. ‘Good then’ the man responded. I was slated to deploy to the Middle East and was two days away from leaving when I was attacked by that frenetic flesh eater- MRSA. My Doc and Chief were not impressed by the outbreak and kanked me from the deployment, stamping me as diseased and incapable.
I was low and dry. I had dropped school, housing, and work for the deployment.
The high hopes I had, was in finding meaning behind this curious episode. How often in life are you absent of all responsibility. It was my first since sixth grade- so I gathered my spare change and purchased a ticket for the east coast. I had heard of a small commune in Lakeshore Florida were you become a ranch hand for Katrina victims in exchange for room and board. It was here, in the raw beauty of simple life and people, in the absence of career strain and social ladders, that I felt an acute and uncanny desire to write. It was the amazing people and their incredible stories that simply needed to be written down. I kept a journal. That’s when I started calling myself a journalist. ‘I gota get this back to the yanks’ I felt like my brain was itching- and writing was the scratch. Naturally, I found my way back home and wandered into the school paper’s headquarters with nothing more than a moleskin notebook full of unorganized, shoddy writing.
The Sicilian Etna
I received a polite email from a gal named Vicky suggesting that I actually attend the meetings that were required of the summer interns. ‘If you want to actually write for the paper, you may want to start by actually writing for the paper.. and showing up to the mandatory meetings.. and showing a little responsibility.. ’ she listed out a few other civil suggestions in response to my evident languor. I had been in the program for a few weeks without a story to my name. It was the sticky clam summer of 2008 and I was more interested in long walks around green lake with a charming brunette than I was sitting behind a typewriter. Add to stack, the frugality of pennies in a tin can, literature is easier read then written, and talk is cheaper than action- of which I must have thought- I could not afford.
Maybe I would have been a little more willing if I wasn’t tasked to write articles about kitchen utensils and statues on campus. ‘Can’t I write about the drunk kids falling to their death out of fraternity windows, or about that wacky dingbat that rides around on his bike all night looking for fights to break up with his tasor gun?’ What a silly cramp for a budding writer. But I am in the study of poltical science, writing fluff was not the problem- the burnette was the problem. Ok- I was the problem. Either way, Vicki let me know that the upcoming meeting was to be the most important of all meetings- with an important guest speaker- and if I failed to make an appearance, I shouldn’t bother ever appearing around her again. Well, fair reader, I did not show.
Now, anyone whose anyone (which I suppose would be everyone) that knows me- can tell you that I’m all about appearances. So why, you may be asking yourself, did I not appear to this- the most important of all meetings..? I’m glad you asked yourself.
I think I can satisfy your curiosity by explaining how a kidnapping comes into fruition:
First of all.. kidnappings don’t just poof up out of a magic lamp-
You only find yourself tangled up in a kidnapping after a strange and slapdash web of events has been spun.
It all started with a phone call demanding I volunteer for deployment. ‘Ok’ I thought out loud. ‘Good then’ the man responded. I was slated to deploy to the Middle East and was two days away from leaving when I was attacked by that frenetic flesh eater- MRSA. My Doc and Chief were not impressed by the outbreak and kanked me from the deployment, stamping me as diseased and incapable.
I was low and dry. I had dropped school, housing, and work for the deployment.
The high hopes I had, was in finding meaning behind this curious episode. How often in life are you absent of all responsibility. It was my first since sixth grade- so I gathered my spare change and purchased a ticket for the east coast. I had heard of a small commune in Lakeshore Florida were you become a ranch hand for Katrina victims in exchange for room and board. It was here, in the raw beauty of simple life and people, in the absence of career strain and social ladders, that I felt an acute and uncanny desire to write. It was the amazing people and their incredible stories that simply needed to be written down. I kept a journal. That’s when I started calling myself a journalist. ‘I gota get this back to the yanks’ I felt like my brain was itching- and writing was the scratch. Naturally, I found my way back home and wandered into the school paper’s headquarters with nothing more than a moleskin notebook full of unorganized, shoddy writing.
The Sicilian Etna
I spotted a bonnie lass hiding behind her work. “Yes, I heard your looking for writers. Well, you’re in luck, for I’ve just become one.” Why not put a salvation twist on it. A born again writer.. that sounded real fine. The lady behind the desk with teetering stacks of paper did not look up at me. Her glasses were hanging from the very tip of her nose- and they surely would have dropped off her face is she moved- so I don’t blame her.
“I eh.. don’t have a portfolio because I never really wrote for anyone persay..” She still didn’t budge.“But I can give you a sample of something I wrote recently when I was doing charitable work on my own accord.” Of course it was necessary that she know I was a pretty good guy.
Then she spoke. “Ok, just fill out the application and staple your piece to the back.”
“Alright!” I hollered. I looked around the stale brick room with a winner’s grin. I put my nose in the air as if taking a whiff of my surroundings. Like a dog. I closed my eyes and listened to the tip- tap of computer keys, the heavy nose-breathing of some of the writer’s lost in their writing, the zip-spitting persistence of the copy machine.. ‘ah’ I thought aloud- this was home for me now.
The lady finally looked up at me, probably wondering as to the sake of my lingering. Her glasses still anchored to the edge of her nose. Her eyes were peeking out from under her eyebrows like someone hiding indoors may peer through closed blinds. She didn’t have to say anything. I knew I was being dismissed.
“Good day to you miss!” I bowed and skipped out of there. I shot like a laser all the way home, broke open my moleskin and picked out one of my favorite passages. Feeling an inspiration only a naïve, budding writer can- I typed up a pretty ridiculous little piece about swimming around in some rich man’s pool- cleaning the sand out of my shorts… It was about as well organized and meaningful as this current piece, but it was sincere.
As confident as I was, I was still surprised when I got the call-back.
“You want that job.”
I snickered. It was like I had gotten away with cheating, but I was an honest weasel about it. It was a good feeling. They had made the right choice; I was going to be their Sicilian Etna.
A few hazy summer months later…
The meeting- the important one that Vicki said I must attend. I may have been there an hour early, and I was even thinking of bringing a fresh article hot and ready for the press. Despite my intentions, on the eve of this critical meeting, despair made its merry way into my head. .
In some lame mutiny towards things not going my way, I picked up two bottles of wine. I summoned my friend Gabriel to aid me in comforting conversation. Our summer was what a gentleman or common scholar would call preposterous. We lived in a three story fraternity style house that was primarily vacant for the summer. We threw down a few hundred bucks and got to live there the summer through.. we spent the summer like boys with bikes do on a cul-de-sac. Mischief mostly, that I’d be foolish to repeat on paper, and naïve to risk sounding proud of such stupid behavior. But I will risk it with this one, because I don’t want to soon forget the obnoxious tendency of alcohol to club your senses to a dumb pulp and almost get you chopped to bits.
If you must know…
We had done one hundred pull-ups each, drinking vino between sets. The blood-rush must have shot the juice strait to my head. I could hardly talk without giggling. “You’re all wax and no wick my friend. Now lets make a merry double to the gas-station for some more wine.”
Ok my friends- we are soon approaching the kidnapping.. I must remind you- this is pure nonfiction..
The Mystery Machine
The explanation lies in our trip to the local grocer with the man outside chanting
“Real change?”
“No thanks”
“Have a great day sir”
There was the familiar noxious aura and florescent buzz from the corner gas-station. But tonight, our antagonist was parked next to a fuel pump. Fueling up and streaming vampire rock and roll. It was far too loud, I admit, and the blokes running the pumps were looking anxious. It was the sort of scene that may scare away customers. But the carnival energy was the kind of scene that drew two inebriated comrades to walk right in. Though I didn’t know it at the time, the antagonist was surely thinkin, ‘like bugs to the zapper’.
His name was Erik Nye. He called himself Erick Nye ‘the tree guy’ for he was in the business of trees (and kidnappings). I still have his business card, and I found a picture of him online:
http://www.ajs-trees.com/gallery/index.album/erick-nye-the-tree-guy?i=6&s=1
There was a lady also, maybe his secretary or some kind of business partner. She’s may as well have not existed.. as far as this story goes..
The back of his van was caged off from the front. I probably would not have even noticed if it wasn’t for the hand that suddenly appeared from inside the cage. The hand clenched onto the links and started to rattle the fencing aggressively. “Let me out of here!” a howling voice demanded from inside the van. My imagination couldn’t handle such eccentric spontaneity. It sounded like a wild boar or some feral, freakish beast. “Jiminy Christmas!” I gasped. My curiousity needed no more prodding. At once, I was up in the van talking to what appeared to be a man locked inside the cage. Gabriel was shooting breeze with the hippies by the gas pump. I yelled out to Erik, “Let this guy out man!” Erik immediately shot back, “No way, you can’t let Pitbull out! He’s dangerous!” I looked back at Pitbull, he had no more than carpenter denim on. His body was covered in tattoos, bald, had a Jay Buhner goatee, and the build of a retired prize-fighter. “I’m sorry Pitbull, he said I can’t let you out. I’m Mikie by the way.” I stuck out my hand and he gave it a sincere shake. If I had possibly a minute more to think, I hope I would have left this funny business. But Erik had somehow convinced Gabriel we needed to join them in a search for local festivities. As soon as we got that word- it was like locking ourselves in the cage with Pitbull was a good idea.
I must admit that I was drowning myself in some ridiculous case of child-like giggles. As soon as they locked us in the cage I was grabbing Gabriel by the throat screaming, “Gabe! We’ve been kidnapped!” then I would start to howl with laughter - when Erik punched the accelerator and we all flew to the back of the van- I lost my balance and composure so completely that I slammed into the floor in belly flop fashion. I was still laughing so hard I couldn’t feel the pain of impact. Just the strange sensation of my belly tightening when the laughter had stolen all my air.. I even had tears sliding down my cheeks. “We’ve been kidnapped!” was all my extra breath could muster between throbbing sets of laughter. This went on for quite a while as Erik ripped through the U-district yelling back at us every now and then ‘I’m trying to shake this cop!’ Gabriel was looking through a small window on the back door- “There’s no cop…” he kept murmuring. After we managed to crawl to the front of the mystery machine, we grabbed hold of the cage fencing that separated us from Erik.
Gabe did most of the business dialogue.
“Erik man, where is this party.”
Erik’s reply, “I thought you knew were the party was?”
“Well drive down this street here”
“We’ve already been down this way”
“I know, drive further down”
“No, just relax we’ll find something soon”
I was lost. The conversation may have made sense to them, but I could not understand how both of them thought the other one knew where the party was. So I popped the cork off another jug of wine, and gave Pitbull a swig. “High times aye Pitbull?” I still had a boyish smile on my face- and was fighting hard to keep it together. He nearly emptied the bottle in one gulp. “O dear, my friend, you have a drinking problem.” I cannot fabricate the conversation that I had with this man, because we are coming to the point of the night where I started to draw blanks in my memory. Blanks that I wish I could fill, because the next morning I woke up in a suitcase inside my room. Between what I do remember and Gabriel’s testimony- here’s the facts:
I became very good friends with Pitbull. We were drinking, singing, talking about the ups and downs of being kidnapped, etc. I think in real life I would walk on the other side of the street if I saw this goony toon trotting down the Ave. But under the circumstances (kidnapped and drunk) I apparently had plenty of heart-warming dialogue with the fellow. Gabe was fairly fixed himself, but always seemed to maintain a little more bearing than I. He had enough burl for us to call him a ‘greek god’, he held his liquor, and was also a budding lawyer. Rarely did he not have his wits about him. He maintained some sort of level with Erik.
I believe we launched out of the gas station around 11:00. The dialed calls on my phone read 3:00 in the a.m.. So we had been driving for some time, enough time for me to polish off the second bottle of wine; sending me into a nauseous swoon. “I don’t feel too hot Gabe…”
The grapes of wrath
Then to the familiar fetal postions of a man brought to the ground by a not-so-moderate lifestyle. ‘This is a drunk sailor’s nightmare’ I kept mumbling.. I was lying on the cold, slimey, hard base of a dark underbelly.. The womb of a beast even, too inept and unwilling to move in my putrid state. ‘So this is what it feels like to be slowly digested..’ I could only manage some inflated one liners that Gabe would caw at, ‘You’re not helping’.
Not long into the roadtrip, we were both laying on our backs- moaning…
I’d fade out.
Then back in..
Then back out..
When I was in- I remember-
Quick beams of light that would shoot through the back window every time we passed a street-lamp. It exposed the lumberjack’s cutleries. A whole flotilla of sharp, glistening blades I had somehow managed to ignore up to this point. They were clinging and clanging against each other quite dauntingly. What’s more, Erik was sucking plumes of smoke out of a shisha or some ottoman device; and he was blowing them sadistically around like the caterpillar from wonderland. I watched them float by above me like character clouds in a blue sky. I was being hot-boxed against my will. But this was not a tranquil ambiance; it was obviously part of his plan to bungle us to the point of dumb numbness. The only thing probably keeping me from this point was the terrifying reality of being skinned by this freak. Maybe even scalped, if he was of native origin.
I was in a mobile, psycadelic butcher shop. From a scythe to a chainsaw, the variety was uncanny and uneccessary. ‘Lord, why would a lumber-jack need a scythe?’ I had read about these stories. I heard about them in the class-room. Every now and then the evening news would actually get a hold of these eerie cases. My cronies told twisted tales like these around the fire at night. Exaggerated to get the fear boiling, but always scary; for, naturally, it was based on a ‘real event’. Well I never had much taste for the gruesome tales, and I sure did not want to be a victim of one.
The sway, in and out of consciousness, was comparable to the consistent jerking turbulence of a queasy red-eye flight. My stomach felt like it was churning rotten, clumpy milk- and battery acid. This was the not so glorious reality of red wine.
In the miasma of these moments- a severe paranoia inked into the dark side of my mind. All the intoxicated bike rides to Gasworks park, the fire-extinguisher fights, the ill-clad trampoline photo-shoot, the brave raid through the farm-land of Auburn; the countless acts of raw, foolish delinquency had finally come full circle. This would be the last of our misadventures, and it would end in a front-page story that had all the facts crooked. The throb of woozy paranoia is one of my least favorite feelings; it had not struck this bad since the ninth grade when I had gotten expelled from a private school that included in its expulsion package- excommunication. Now, I had added juice to whatever messenger nerves were delivering this painful experience to my receptors.
The blinding light from the little geek in the balcony was being blasted right in my eyes. So much exposure there was little to see except for…
My excommunication, my ghastly situation, and sure death… these were enough to make a poor junior in college soak his britches..
We were at a shipyard.. or maybe a railroad graveyard.. somewhere perfectly desolate for a bizarre skinning episode- when the van stopped.
Erik casually opened our prison door and came meandering into the back of the van shuffling through his primordial paraphernalia. The flow of the night was interrupted- which triggered in my subconscious- one thing- Escape. The gate was open. I was so green that I did not even think about my comrade.. though I don’t think he thought much about me either.. we were both on our feet and dashing for the door in gauche unison.
We launched out of the van. As rockets break the atmosphere and jettison into space. We were out of breath after about four blocks. I thought for sure the van was still creepin around looking for the escapees.. with a big bat-light on top.
Nuts and Barley.
“Real change?”
“No thanks”
“Have a great day sir”
There was the familiar noxious aura and florescent buzz from the corner gas-station. But tonight, our antagonist was parked next to a fuel pump. Fueling up and streaming vampire rock and roll. It was far too loud, I admit, and the blokes running the pumps were looking anxious. It was the sort of scene that may scare away customers. But the carnival energy was the kind of scene that drew two inebriated comrades to walk right in. Though I didn’t know it at the time, the antagonist was surely thinkin, ‘like bugs to the zapper’.
His name was Erik Nye. He called himself Erick Nye ‘the tree guy’ for he was in the business of trees (and kidnappings). I still have his business card, and I found a picture of him online:
http://www.ajs-trees.com/gallery/index.album/erick-nye-the-tree-guy?i=6&s=1
There was a lady also, maybe his secretary or some kind of business partner. She’s may as well have not existed.. as far as this story goes..
The back of his van was caged off from the front. I probably would not have even noticed if it wasn’t for the hand that suddenly appeared from inside the cage. The hand clenched onto the links and started to rattle the fencing aggressively. “Let me out of here!” a howling voice demanded from inside the van. My imagination couldn’t handle such eccentric spontaneity. It sounded like a wild boar or some feral, freakish beast. “Jiminy Christmas!” I gasped. My curiousity needed no more prodding. At once, I was up in the van talking to what appeared to be a man locked inside the cage. Gabriel was shooting breeze with the hippies by the gas pump. I yelled out to Erik, “Let this guy out man!” Erik immediately shot back, “No way, you can’t let Pitbull out! He’s dangerous!” I looked back at Pitbull, he had no more than carpenter denim on. His body was covered in tattoos, bald, had a Jay Buhner goatee, and the build of a retired prize-fighter. “I’m sorry Pitbull, he said I can’t let you out. I’m Mikie by the way.” I stuck out my hand and he gave it a sincere shake. If I had possibly a minute more to think, I hope I would have left this funny business. But Erik had somehow convinced Gabriel we needed to join them in a search for local festivities. As soon as we got that word- it was like locking ourselves in the cage with Pitbull was a good idea.
I must admit that I was drowning myself in some ridiculous case of child-like giggles. As soon as they locked us in the cage I was grabbing Gabriel by the throat screaming, “Gabe! We’ve been kidnapped!” then I would start to howl with laughter - when Erik punched the accelerator and we all flew to the back of the van- I lost my balance and composure so completely that I slammed into the floor in belly flop fashion. I was still laughing so hard I couldn’t feel the pain of impact. Just the strange sensation of my belly tightening when the laughter had stolen all my air.. I even had tears sliding down my cheeks. “We’ve been kidnapped!” was all my extra breath could muster between throbbing sets of laughter. This went on for quite a while as Erik ripped through the U-district yelling back at us every now and then ‘I’m trying to shake this cop!’ Gabriel was looking through a small window on the back door- “There’s no cop…” he kept murmuring. After we managed to crawl to the front of the mystery machine, we grabbed hold of the cage fencing that separated us from Erik.
Gabe did most of the business dialogue.
“Erik man, where is this party.”
Erik’s reply, “I thought you knew were the party was?”
“Well drive down this street here”
“We’ve already been down this way”
“I know, drive further down”
“No, just relax we’ll find something soon”
I was lost. The conversation may have made sense to them, but I could not understand how both of them thought the other one knew where the party was. So I popped the cork off another jug of wine, and gave Pitbull a swig. “High times aye Pitbull?” I still had a boyish smile on my face- and was fighting hard to keep it together. He nearly emptied the bottle in one gulp. “O dear, my friend, you have a drinking problem.” I cannot fabricate the conversation that I had with this man, because we are coming to the point of the night where I started to draw blanks in my memory. Blanks that I wish I could fill, because the next morning I woke up in a suitcase inside my room. Between what I do remember and Gabriel’s testimony- here’s the facts:
I became very good friends with Pitbull. We were drinking, singing, talking about the ups and downs of being kidnapped, etc. I think in real life I would walk on the other side of the street if I saw this goony toon trotting down the Ave. But under the circumstances (kidnapped and drunk) I apparently had plenty of heart-warming dialogue with the fellow. Gabe was fairly fixed himself, but always seemed to maintain a little more bearing than I. He had enough burl for us to call him a ‘greek god’, he held his liquor, and was also a budding lawyer. Rarely did he not have his wits about him. He maintained some sort of level with Erik.
I believe we launched out of the gas station around 11:00. The dialed calls on my phone read 3:00 in the a.m.. So we had been driving for some time, enough time for me to polish off the second bottle of wine; sending me into a nauseous swoon. “I don’t feel too hot Gabe…”
The grapes of wrath
Then to the familiar fetal postions of a man brought to the ground by a not-so-moderate lifestyle. ‘This is a drunk sailor’s nightmare’ I kept mumbling.. I was lying on the cold, slimey, hard base of a dark underbelly.. The womb of a beast even, too inept and unwilling to move in my putrid state. ‘So this is what it feels like to be slowly digested..’ I could only manage some inflated one liners that Gabe would caw at, ‘You’re not helping’.
Not long into the roadtrip, we were both laying on our backs- moaning…
I’d fade out.
Then back in..
Then back out..
When I was in- I remember-
Quick beams of light that would shoot through the back window every time we passed a street-lamp. It exposed the lumberjack’s cutleries. A whole flotilla of sharp, glistening blades I had somehow managed to ignore up to this point. They were clinging and clanging against each other quite dauntingly. What’s more, Erik was sucking plumes of smoke out of a shisha or some ottoman device; and he was blowing them sadistically around like the caterpillar from wonderland. I watched them float by above me like character clouds in a blue sky. I was being hot-boxed against my will. But this was not a tranquil ambiance; it was obviously part of his plan to bungle us to the point of dumb numbness. The only thing probably keeping me from this point was the terrifying reality of being skinned by this freak. Maybe even scalped, if he was of native origin.
I was in a mobile, psycadelic butcher shop. From a scythe to a chainsaw, the variety was uncanny and uneccessary. ‘Lord, why would a lumber-jack need a scythe?’ I had read about these stories. I heard about them in the class-room. Every now and then the evening news would actually get a hold of these eerie cases. My cronies told twisted tales like these around the fire at night. Exaggerated to get the fear boiling, but always scary; for, naturally, it was based on a ‘real event’. Well I never had much taste for the gruesome tales, and I sure did not want to be a victim of one.
The sway, in and out of consciousness, was comparable to the consistent jerking turbulence of a queasy red-eye flight. My stomach felt like it was churning rotten, clumpy milk- and battery acid. This was the not so glorious reality of red wine.
In the miasma of these moments- a severe paranoia inked into the dark side of my mind. All the intoxicated bike rides to Gasworks park, the fire-extinguisher fights, the ill-clad trampoline photo-shoot, the brave raid through the farm-land of Auburn; the countless acts of raw, foolish delinquency had finally come full circle. This would be the last of our misadventures, and it would end in a front-page story that had all the facts crooked. The throb of woozy paranoia is one of my least favorite feelings; it had not struck this bad since the ninth grade when I had gotten expelled from a private school that included in its expulsion package- excommunication. Now, I had added juice to whatever messenger nerves were delivering this painful experience to my receptors.
The blinding light from the little geek in the balcony was being blasted right in my eyes. So much exposure there was little to see except for…
My excommunication, my ghastly situation, and sure death… these were enough to make a poor junior in college soak his britches..
We were at a shipyard.. or maybe a railroad graveyard.. somewhere perfectly desolate for a bizarre skinning episode- when the van stopped.
Erik casually opened our prison door and came meandering into the back of the van shuffling through his primordial paraphernalia. The flow of the night was interrupted- which triggered in my subconscious- one thing- Escape. The gate was open. I was so green that I did not even think about my comrade.. though I don’t think he thought much about me either.. we were both on our feet and dashing for the door in gauche unison.
We launched out of the van. As rockets break the atmosphere and jettison into space. We were out of breath after about four blocks. I thought for sure the van was still creepin around looking for the escapees.. with a big bat-light on top.
Nuts and Barley.
‘Well, you’ve been in the pigsty again haven’t you’
After a narrow escape I woke up in a suitcase in my room an hour after the weekly writer’s meeting had started. After attempting to explain to my twin how I had gotten kidnapped I trekked down to the stale brick newsroom, still drunk, and getting sicker as I unsettled my insides. It was almost two months into the program and I had only written one article that I didn’t even turn in. I plopped down on the floor, knowing this would be my last meeting. That’s when my stomach started to bubble and I could taste the froth creeping up the back of my throat. I stood up and ran to the bathroom. Once inside I started to dry heave over the garbage can. My system was not cooperating, so I stuck a finger down my throat in retaliation. Then that burning venom finally erupted out all over my hand hardly making any of the actual vomit in the garbage can. I made a few dramatic heaves out of reflex thinking more was on its way. Nothing, so I just started to curse arbitrarily under my breath. I heard a nervous cough behind me. I looked through the mirror to see a head member of the news-team gawking at my performance.
He said nothing. It brought me back to the lady at the desk; I knew when I was being excused. I smiled at him like a criminal covers up his shame by smiling in a mug shot. I had bartered my opportunity for a bottle and a half of wine, and I simper in retrospect..
‘Like a dog returns to his vomit.’ I was thinking as I trudged home .. When I got there- I read the email I half expected to be worse:
I very much want my writers to succeed in the program, and this means entrusting reporters with a substantial amount of responsibility. As you know, responsibilities include attending mandatory weekly meetings, maintaining constant communication with the development editor and meeting all assignment deadlines. Unfortunately, I have not seen an adequate effort on your part in fulfilling those responsibilities. Consequently, I have no choice but to remove you from the development program.
- Vicki
Author’s note:
I wrote this not long after I received this email- I was going to send it to Vicki in attempts to get my job back.. after re-reading it.. I’m not sure how I thought this would get me my job back- but I did think- It would be a good piece to put on my blog.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The Crying Belfry
As written by Spiel:
O how I despised the crying belfry
Since its uncanny birth
It roots deeper in our minds
Then time- in ancient earth
Inside the belfry lives an apparition, outside the world of men
The Creator’s intent was not a creature, for then it seems pretend
An apparition is much harder for the clever thought to cleanse
To bother us about creation, it must well from deep within
He’s hunched over at the helm, outside the realm of time
Cursed to live inside the belfry and bind the dark side of our mind
O how I despised the crying belfry
And the soul that lived inside
He rang the bell so often, my swollen thoughts would never die
They’d leave the line as birds provoked- and suddenly fill the sky
He’d wait until they perched down
To try their luck at resting some
Then bells and chimes would crash around
They’d flutter up -their schemes undone
At the bottom of the bell’s rope
Our ghost of fable but quite able
For who here can deny- the shrill current down the spine
Even long after a loved one dies
The echo of the belfry and its shadow in the sky
The invisible reminders that fill with tears our longing eyes
Every hour on the hour
He pulled the rope that climbed that tower
As a running man I’d cower
Complacent I would cringe
At the sight of the crying belfry
Or sound of bell on rusted hinge
Hell hopes our thoughts stay bleeding
And don’t heed this cruel remind
The devil is no friend of the apparition
For his thoughts forever pine
Is the apparition fallen angel? No, it’s apparition- nothing less
Phantasmal to the mortal, but still we find respect
For with earnest retrospect
His silhouette does haunt the mind
In this respect I’d just as soon forget
My duty to mankind
If I did not understand that sad regret I’d surely leave behind
Or our debt paid in full, by the master of our minds
As written by Spitz:
It seems a cruel thing, to put such a spin on time
Of ghosts and belfries, and spirits in the sky
Come back down to earth.
Where the sun rises in a second
But not an hour dare goes bye
Without the sun sinking slowly
Glowing behind rolling clouds
Or shining proud in painted sky
Who stares every minute at the moon
We don’t kiss the tide goodbye
We’d just as soon- care about a broom-handle
More than care when it arrives
So if it makes no sense to you
Or drives you insane
Right up a tree
I just hope you don’t mind
That it’s all the same to me-
My crying belfry
Is a frail thing
In respect to relativity.
As written by Mr. Glock:
Correct you are Spitz
Lord knows where the time is going
I do love its relative, unbalanced stride
Without relativity
Time could not freely fly
Or slow down its motion- when a lovely sight walks softly bye
And you meet the emerald green and glowing heat in her eyes
‘Please notice me for one more second’- your whole body seems to cry
But then that precise moment, slowed to a clicking reel
The crude instincts, and the whole scene
It’s time itself you seem to feel
A great inflorescence
Funnels the seconds into minutes
And the minutes into moments
That are measured in breathing
And your whole evening
Floats about –
Like snowflakes and feathers in your head
And you daydream about the clouds
Until enough fluff comes out your ears
To fill a pillow for your bed
But even these heavenly moments, are nothing less than fleeting
The time I find myself in believing in
Is closer to heaven, where you hear the angels singing
Close to where the sun shines, close to where the birds fly
Close to the edge of the cosmos, the last star in His design
High as I could reach, the mere breach of mankind
Close as the ghost that floats to heaven when we die
The time that passes without Him
Is the time that I am fearing
The time I spend with Him, is the poet’s time endearing
Walking with You
I could not fill You’re glory with my praise
It was ‘when I looked away’
Seems the story of my days
But walking with Him
The concern was much refrained
The belfry now seemed timid
The gentle pulsing of a vein
Sounded like the distant whistle
Of unseen rolling trains
In the midst of my abstaining- from the belfry I was feigning
Is the divine part of time- Mr. Spiel here is painting
And the apparition
That inhabits his lines
Is a great deal of superstition
That he tries to hide behind
Though it feels quite real
Atleast, from time to time
O how I despised the crying belfry
Since its uncanny birth
It roots deeper in our minds
Then time- in ancient earth
Inside the belfry lives an apparition, outside the world of men
The Creator’s intent was not a creature, for then it seems pretend
An apparition is much harder for the clever thought to cleanse
To bother us about creation, it must well from deep within
He’s hunched over at the helm, outside the realm of time
Cursed to live inside the belfry and bind the dark side of our mind
O how I despised the crying belfry
And the soul that lived inside
He rang the bell so often, my swollen thoughts would never die
They’d leave the line as birds provoked- and suddenly fill the sky
He’d wait until they perched down
To try their luck at resting some
Then bells and chimes would crash around
They’d flutter up -their schemes undone
At the bottom of the bell’s rope
Our ghost of fable but quite able
For who here can deny- the shrill current down the spine
Even long after a loved one dies
The echo of the belfry and its shadow in the sky
The invisible reminders that fill with tears our longing eyes
Every hour on the hour
He pulled the rope that climbed that tower
As a running man I’d cower
Complacent I would cringe
At the sight of the crying belfry
Or sound of bell on rusted hinge
Hell hopes our thoughts stay bleeding
And don’t heed this cruel remind
The devil is no friend of the apparition
For his thoughts forever pine
Is the apparition fallen angel? No, it’s apparition- nothing less
Phantasmal to the mortal, but still we find respect
For with earnest retrospect
His silhouette does haunt the mind
In this respect I’d just as soon forget
My duty to mankind
If I did not understand that sad regret I’d surely leave behind
Or our debt paid in full, by the master of our minds
As written by Spitz:
It seems a cruel thing, to put such a spin on time
Of ghosts and belfries, and spirits in the sky
Come back down to earth.
Where the sun rises in a second
But not an hour dare goes bye
Without the sun sinking slowly
Glowing behind rolling clouds
Or shining proud in painted sky
Who stares every minute at the moon
We don’t kiss the tide goodbye
We’d just as soon- care about a broom-handle
More than care when it arrives
So if it makes no sense to you
Or drives you insane
Right up a tree
I just hope you don’t mind
That it’s all the same to me-
My crying belfry
Is a frail thing
In respect to relativity.
As written by Mr. Glock:
Correct you are Spitz
Lord knows where the time is going
I do love its relative, unbalanced stride
Without relativity
Time could not freely fly
Or slow down its motion- when a lovely sight walks softly bye
And you meet the emerald green and glowing heat in her eyes
‘Please notice me for one more second’- your whole body seems to cry
But then that precise moment, slowed to a clicking reel
The crude instincts, and the whole scene
It’s time itself you seem to feel
A great inflorescence
Funnels the seconds into minutes
And the minutes into moments
That are measured in breathing
And your whole evening
Floats about –
Like snowflakes and feathers in your head
And you daydream about the clouds
Until enough fluff comes out your ears
To fill a pillow for your bed
But even these heavenly moments, are nothing less than fleeting
The time I find myself in believing in
Is closer to heaven, where you hear the angels singing
Close to where the sun shines, close to where the birds fly
Close to the edge of the cosmos, the last star in His design
High as I could reach, the mere breach of mankind
Close as the ghost that floats to heaven when we die
The time that passes without Him
Is the time that I am fearing
The time I spend with Him, is the poet’s time endearing
Walking with You
I could not fill You’re glory with my praise
It was ‘when I looked away’
Seems the story of my days
But walking with Him
The concern was much refrained
The belfry now seemed timid
The gentle pulsing of a vein
Sounded like the distant whistle
Of unseen rolling trains
In the midst of my abstaining- from the belfry I was feigning
Is the divine part of time- Mr. Spiel here is painting
And the apparition
That inhabits his lines
Is a great deal of superstition
That he tries to hide behind
Though it feels quite real
Atleast, from time to time
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)