Snippet of Dialogue from By the Road to the Contagious Hospital

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Elsie: 
You say no one to drive the car but 
What the hell, Bill, what’s that 
Red white and blue still upright 
Upholstered bucket seat 
On shoulder of congested arterial 
Doing there? 

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Featherweight

for 
aging 

spar 

row 
in 

the 
sparse 

spar 
row 

grass, 
spar 

ring 
in 

the 
wind. 

Pathetic Fallacies

What— 

So sad and reverent the soft swishing helpless 
Tall grasses, heads bowed before the relentless 
Whims of the almighty indifferent winds— 

You can say that again. 

Harbinger

It would be good to hear 
The news that keeps us 

Enthralled, riveted here— 
It would be good to hear 

The news that friends 
Once old and dear, 

Are waiting for that message 
So they might reappear, 

It would be good to hear 
The nightingale’s approach 

Before we disappear. 

Doves on the Wing

Charcoal grey storm clouds gather 
Winged scraps of white paper scatter 

Figures of speech past 
World on verge 

Of being blown away. 

Old Jim Crow

Now, what say you and me 
Just talk, boy—you see, 

It ain’t nothin’ but a heavy 
Line of black 

Iron forged into a wedge, 
Fitted with a crow 

Like claw at one end 
That’s proved 

Well worth its mettle, down 
Right useful for prying 

And pulling out nails, too. 

Halcyon Days of Yore, 2010 BC*

1. 

Hey, Alaric--

  

It’s deep winter down here 
In Hellas and we’re in 
A run of magic 

 
Weather a wee bit of what I wager 
Your frigid, hard-up barbarians would love 
To bask in while they rape and plunder. 

2. 

Our assets, you say?

Hear those panpipes? Another of our classic 
Clear spring days, flocks of immaculate sheep 
And she-goats bleating in the meadows 
And behind the susurrating hedges--
Would you believe it?—a tangible

Cornucopia of bestial fornicating fauns! 



*Before the Crisis