I thought it might be fun to add a little variety here by posting some older stuff occasionally, most of which has never been seen by anyone outside of myself and perhaps a few of my writers group cronies. This one is from the late '90's when I ran the Poetry Porch during Tremont Art Walk over the course of three summers. It's a 100% true story.
***
So while every sane person is out at
the beach or having a picnic or some such, I'm roving about Tremont with a staple gun, posting
"Poetry Porch" flyers in the 90 degree heat. I've plastered about three fourths of the hood when a boy, perhaps eight years old, drives up on his bike. "You
the one puttin' those up?" He points to the telephone pole I
just hit.
"You mean the flyers?" I ask.
"Yeah. What's those about?"
"They're for a poetry reading."
"'Cause me and my friend are
tearing them all down." Sure enough, as we speak another
somewhat smaller boy is across the street picking at the comers of
the flyer I just posted. We watch as he rips it down and crumples up.
He is smiling.
"What the hell are you doing that
for?!!"
"'Cause we like to." His
eager expression reminds me of a puppy explaining that he likes
chasing sticks.
"Man, you're crazy!” He just
looks at me blankly.
“Hey, this is for the Black Poetic
Society!" I try, hoping to appeal to the small African-American
in him.
"I hate poetry."
"You should come and listen. You
might like it."
"Nah."
"Well cut it out!"
"It's okay, you can put more up."
He seems rather proud of himself, as if he honestly believes he's
come up with a good and rational solution to my problem. Then he
rides off and I watch the two of them casually roll down to the next
phone pole and reach for the flyer. I turn away, shaking my head in
disbelief.
I finish posting the rest of the flyers
on tiptoes, as far up as I can reach.
***
We now return you to our regular featured programing...
Readin' and Writin' and Suchlike
Reading to begin as soon as I'm done posting here will be the homework from tonight's Market Gardener class: the first five chapters in The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook
Wrote some fun letters to an old high school buddy, but not much else.
Good Eats
Still working through that big crock pot full'o porky goodness. Tonight, accompanied by a nice salad. And I've been snacking on macadamia nuts today, which I haven't bought in a good long time because those suckers are 17 bucks a pound. But my, oh my, they are tasty. I'm doing a Whole30 this month which means I'm back to hardcore Paleo: no grains, no legumes, no dairy, no sweets, no cheating. And no alcohol. So if I seem a little bitchy* this month, that might explain it.
*-er than usual.
My Adorable Child
...can ice skate like nobody's business. He's been in figure skating lessons for a while and is now taking speed skating too. He breezed through Basic 1, 2, and 3, and won his first practice speed skating race. He's gotten so comfortable on the ice. It's really fun to watch. But don't take my word for it, check this kid out.
3 comments:
Wow! Look at him go on those skates!
Fun post. Sorry about your fliers. LOL.
I know, he's fast!
So you spell it "fliers," eh? I looked it up at a bunch of different grammar sites online and found no universal agreement. In fact, most of them didn't seem to care, which is rare in the grammar world! But it seems that "flyers" was the most common usage for small pamphlets and such (as opposed to things that fly) in this country. My spellchecker didn't care for it though.
Since there's a skating reference, are you possibly being influenced by *these* people? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Flyers
Merriam Webster tells me this: "usually flyer : an advertising circular"
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