S.B.T. 57

“the balance of the print and the negative,” alfred to miss o'keeffe “is discerning of contrast”
“contrast is delicate,” she said clutching a sable wand, “a cezanne stroke is out of place and hides inside a bended space, it generates a compact pace when color overwhelms the eye and memory trails of seeing die reborn in mist-ter-y, oh my,” she taps her left ear, “the hidden tornado in a placid lake where under glass a labyrinth swallows lava rocks and reds”

twisting his window monocle polish on foulard cravat he swats at a moth unshuttered nerves she is a painter well his lightcatcher sets a palm exposure over the palette smoothing pigment through oil loops flooding across tilted planes a spongemark swipes, subterranean shifting reef reaching for lines in white, before it blends and makes bluegrey he catches phase radiation in threadthin filaments curled in titanium the tiniest most lucid he has ever seen
since harlequin mint and striped ribbon candy

“i didnt expect to beseech you to tell me painting on
blind faith would pay off,” georgia with a smudge on her cheek, dabbing a precision bonescape corner
“i never heard you follow blind faith or pay off” he said hands-of-the-clock hands-of-the-clock how-i-will-paint while she makes orange with cadmium red-deep enfolding hansa yellow straight from the tube “no not exactly,” she said, straightening the frame, “but i paint no matter what else”
“thats my girl” says he (he shudders at his playful assertion its not supposed to be that way she thinks shutters, like eyes, like horizontal eyes that blink open, and close open and close

down on o.k.harris street tibetan summer music festival red streamer fields wave like snakes in a comb
people there have a certain medusa pueblo dorje understanding
its exciting to see the stairs materialize in a magritte escher painting with no top floor brushstroke
capricorn goatfleet climbing nimble crevices, the river that leaves no stone unturned

“...because time is...
...different now
than it was before...
and now... you are
before and then you are after...” gazing at dust specks and starflakes
whistling off the top bookshelf he breathes into the air silverysoft translucent pearls that float dissolve above in silence settling over shoulders a warm forest green wind blanket

“now... this is a good orange” she says stepping back.

_____________________

S.B.T. 50

“oh Sotsi, i’m sorry, i can’t make it today, we’re going to the graceyard, to put a new hot pink pazzazz on the grandmother granite....no, it’s not that way you know it.....it isn’t sad chimes you know, it’s happy jingles and multimessianic movements.....but you are right i really don’t much like the place after all who really would well except maybe alexandrina maria de costa and her sister deolinda....but it’s a sacred voodoo in this family so i have to go or be forever unconditionally loved and what could be worse than that.....”

treeee-nah.......ohhhh, treeeee-naaaaah....a muffled radio voice from the wind thumps a little sticky on the clef, its here its there, it seems like a sound generation on random whisper setting, geez, treena thinks, that’s weird, it feels like it’s in my ear going out rather than the normal other-way-around, sound is supposed to go into the ear, right? ummmmm.....

.....treeeeee-naaaah..........ok geezus who is it............treeeenaaah yooooo know-owe-owe-owe whoooo eye-eye-eye aaammmmmmm “thea? is that y-y-you?”.....doughnut beeee silleeeeee my deeeeeeeaaaaar....."IT IS YOU".....i musssst tellll yooooo something-ing-ing..."i’m listening don’t worry this i wanna hear"......sometime-ime-ime-imes yoooooo have toooo take-ake-ake-ake a boat-oat-oat-oat......."what do you mean thea"........i-i-i-i mean-ean-ean yoooo have to crossssssss the great-ate-ate wahhhhhh-terrrrrrrrrr..."wow thea right out of the I Ching, that’s great".....jussst lissssstennnnn my-eye-eye deeear don’t get smart-art-art-art.......

treena shuts off the pug screen she was just watching and didn’t see
...thatsssss better-er-er, oh-oh-oh-kay-ay-ay dont make-ake meeeee talk-awk-awk toooo much-uch-uch i-i-i tell-ell-ell yoooooo kee-ee-eep your-or-or eye-yi-yi-yi-zzzz oh-oh-oh-pen-en-en and your-or-or heart-art-art eve-eve-eve-en-en-en more-or-or-or watch-ch-ch for-or-or the streamline-ine-ine munchers-ers-ers from-um-um-um the postmarked-arked-arked ass-ass-ass-tral-ul-ul trail-ail-ail-ail and last but not least-east-east-east take a boat-oat-oat....
"where thea"
......you know-owe-owe yoo owe-oh-oh me-ee-ee that-at-at-at eye-eye-eye didnt doooooo allllll that work-erk-erk-erk for nothing-ing-ing yoooo already-eddy-eddy know-oh-oh-oh......
"thats right i do"
......goo-ood-ood girl-irl make-ake time-ime-ime mer-reee-eee-ee and dont loo-oo-oo-zzzz the picture-ure-ure i had to turn-urn-urn over-er-er to get-ette-ette for yoooooooo dont beee a foo-ool-ool my dear-ear-ear but dooooo beeeeee foo-oo-oo-lish-ish-ish-ish-ish-ish-ish-ish-ish-ish-ish-ish-ish........

S.B.T. 43

“That’s nice, I like the way that phrase moves,” on the piano bench beside me, Barry Manilow. He smiles like cherubim but he’s for real, he’s product-free and easy rider jeans, for the moment he just snaps his fingers in sync with whatever sound catches his ear, even with eternal jitter at the copa that’s more than fine with him, a regal and benign purple aura of wisteria. No viking headdress, no bloody kerchief, no binocular of presence, no wreath of wonder he's all there. His ichobod crane forefinger circling a particular bar on the score, he points to the notes, one two three and this one over here, he says “Here, right here, that is nice, I love that, I love the way the christmas bells mingle with the hammond B2 and the silver triangle touches the milky way. I’m trying to find a way to sing it, it could have lyrics, I mean, it wouldn’t be that difficult to layer a song that makes the whole world sing into it, kind of a kick in the pants.”

There’s a storm they say coming from the Bourne spy movies, an alert interrupts the radio broadcast, “...potential damaging winds and flood warning flood warning zeep zeep zeep
could cause electrical disturbances dzeet dzeet...”

Barry says, “I’ve seen these kinds of ‘storms’ before,” he's serious, marroon and navy. His eyes are intensely bright water-planets on the edge of a black donuthole pushing against the dying of the light. He looks at me and says “don’t worry, we’ll be safe, we can always find a way...”

You know I want to believe him. But I say to him, “Barry you keep telling me all these things, like about the thump next to the sizzle, and the fifth over the eighth with the little thirtysecondth flags, and how the moon has to be moltovibrato in a lullaby, and even how you appreciate the phrasing of this allegretto blend or that full rest part. but i want the seventh in the G major slide to A minor and end at C with a seven E flat and i have no way for sure of knowing it.”

He laughs, he's giggling with body tremor his chin in one hand leans forward, winks, the corners of his eyes are merrily rooster-like “It’s in the melody,” he says, “you just hear it. It’s already there, I’m telling you... What, you don’t believe me?... Here just a minute, I’ll play it for you.” he takes off his tan linen jacket, sits on it, straightens up a little and rearranges his spindle legs like an N hanging off the edge of a bookshelf, takes a slow steam engine breath. His fingers tiptoe but the keys ring like chimes with reverb.

S.B.T. 41

this is it. abiding farewell joystick, perfectly holy art thy claypit heart in antique shadowbox barnboard frame, aye, bowstring friends halo be thy name this is it. prenuptial leap of faith communion help yourself, feast first delicate baked-on century wax quillpoint vow sealed nostradamus roseline envelope.

back on the roadie bus “in my opinion there is no difference between the brainiac legbrace and lets do the broachclip mambo discipline, whereas both abhor whatever-it-is with ties to whatever-it-was ali baba as we honor the united laundry chute with dressingroom on the side. forty thieves and i will explain what they do in back of the icon,” justice of the peace monocle. “cherish is the word to divine my flash hologram keychain,” nada monkey of angkor wat, no cable no slate tabacky. “not the same, nor any different, confirmed by scientific theory, our pall-bearing aramaic numeral list will melt random secret ice chips in few inferno words with the little history book add-ons to the agenda (forklift). empirical domes understand a nary nary subject and object afar behind our wisdom change the channel programming,” collective namaha tomb of unknown origin

“yes that’s right so right a ducky royal dustpoem to you sumthin rubber but with many more xyz in a fine pearl kiosk from a previous lifetime. give the Tagore purple oracle pillbox to grandma’s wolf c'mon now don't make her steal it.”

“nothing to do with percieved nations or red rickrack but i tell you, this it is, do the right nothing else or according to bah bah lamb law i will have you return in a rubic cube.” echo creeps over the rainbow. “love thyself roost on a fence, never mind yonder toad though not always green to be shamefully aware of my own shallow-tooth promise to fix the plumbing. i will refrain from judgment here but i will say that you are a nit slack tangle with the harley indian spokes. it’s not just me, either or, as if (NOT!) .” ah lah deh dah dah. “brother i righteously chose to fight overflow tomtom for the market rate abuse potion that could feed thousands, clearly it is wrong fast fooding to tell that to my six year old borrowed blessing cinched-in-a-knapsack child” whale field recording.

“first, no need to understand, understand?”
“yeah i get it”
“so, what color is the same way light emitting diode?”
“um, well...” buttkick flashlight spontaneous combustion! crown of thorns erupting arson sunblaze whitewash Shiva baby Roo-ummm well- never to empty the perpetual slowmotion teabag or the broken bucket machine, bles-sed bee, buzz thy cement spray-on topknot, ye mighty mice join us now in reverent gymnasium ropeclimb syndicate planet of men.

thats all there is my friend lets keep th’folding chairs glancing at the hallway mirror. and the scribes book in unconscious alto sax, by golly one for the road, funniest sheep in a long time.

S.B.T. 37

we know more than anybody else if this ever had a purpose lost in the shuffle a forgotten public works this is a great job "it is pointless, its much worse than I thought"

you’re pathetic he said we’re both part of the what does she want system if you get one toejamb football in front nobody will say lost in the big picture.  "you’re out of control and slicing bread hysterical"

...the reason is i felt guilty for ruining the world," she bellows pump the hearth, "and I was just seven... (the numbers are huge and the factors in each set look jerkface, nobody in the whole world could do it mentally, its astronomical."

"astro nomical  astro nomical, that punjab theory a five sixty seven, how bout seven dumb drunk eight die eight get back irwin corey" quote dr. moot at the institute "by those numbers the room should be safe sam mah man hey right here look! here they couldn't do it! can you tell me the factor of 462 cmon lets go. (move yur scrawny ass i'm not through with you yet honey) 563 please give me a fivesixthree"

beep beep

shit we're trapped, check the floor - is he dead?
there's no coming back now he said he ain't jeezis

goood evening we have a shove-it absolute anyone who knows anything show
disguised as a master plan and so far it works

this...
is not my...
'now is as long as i say'
any more 

he staggered out of the elevator on the third floor

and rushed down to the foyer to bow with chrysanthemums and basically stand back up.

"sir, what pause will you do with the ruffian spillover packets"

fourteen cube ok the biggest center you can be is seventythousand five hundred seventysix, the tiki coordinates start the car

these numbers are markers professor they tell us where we are it worked ok all i have to do is add another six...
alright let’s go, out of curiosity maybe we can get the door to open get around the traps practical solutions

"well you haven't found any yet all you do is freak out like a nervous codependent"

over here, move it - thats not the way outta here damn zombic fate moves how come the sound of the door opens?

how many points do we have left, ollie? can’t concentrate, he’s destitute designing everything up lookin it should be
i’m glad you’re up and he’s not coming

of course he is.

no he’s too unpredictable he’s staying down down blanky

we'll come back for him later then

you be quiet (rusty door open) because i'll keep you sniffing their business tail in the sideyard

how dare you say that? you don’t know god help you claes you just smack your arms around here. is there anybody besides me interested in whats on the other side of this limbo rock

"gmorning - say no leave, all you has is shit enough to hang onto we’re gonna see the domes over there in a day, right? go 'head. WAIT What're you doing, you can't quit now, it's not your fault

"take the near road take 'em off outside the runway"

"you weigh like five hundred pounds," the flight attendent said twisting her blonde lock - right - only six months in that's as far as you go

hold tight i’ll try to swing you on the eagle bar, c'mon raise yourselves up i’m gonna try it out ok one more time

"hurry it’s getting heavy"

"what the hells going on potus where are you?"
i mean drop your gun your under arrest
heres a map that tells you where all the rooms are over there