Punchline
Yellow Penske trucks,
hospital hand towels,
ventriloquist dummies,
silver candlesticks.
All puppets—
socks to marionnettes—
it will never matter.
Rolling farmland,
Canadian cities
(except, perhaps, Porcupine Plain and Winnipeg).
Lice combs, shaving brushes,
proscenium stages, the hole
in the roof, the maple roots
forcing their way into the pipes.
When I flush the downstairs toilet,
the sink gurgles and small insects
spray out of the drain. They will
be here, all week. Tell your friends
you enjoyed the show.
Another Penske truck, just ahead.
I cannot understand why
no one is laughing, why
no one hangs out of a car
window, applauding.
Surely there was laughter when
we first uttered the absurdest
of words: divorce. As if!
We killed that night.
The parallel gold lines
painted on the asphalt of Route 2?
They irritate the tough crowd,
blazing autumn trees,
who know better than to pair up,
who know better than to try
to stay the same.
***Same post as over at the regular blog. But feel free to leave comments here. My spambot has gone crazy over at breedemandweep.com and I have to unsnarl the mess.
hospital hand towels,
ventriloquist dummies,
silver candlesticks.
All puppets—
socks to marionnettes—
it will never matter.
Rolling farmland,
Canadian cities
(except, perhaps, Porcupine Plain and Winnipeg).
Lice combs, shaving brushes,
proscenium stages, the hole
in the roof, the maple roots
forcing their way into the pipes.
When I flush the downstairs toilet,
the sink gurgles and small insects
spray out of the drain. They will
be here, all week. Tell your friends
you enjoyed the show.
Another Penske truck, just ahead.
I cannot understand why
no one is laughing, why
no one hangs out of a car
window, applauding.
Surely there was laughter when
we first uttered the absurdest
of words: divorce. As if!
We killed that night.
The parallel gold lines
painted on the asphalt of Route 2?
They irritate the tough crowd,
blazing autumn trees,
who know better than to pair up,
who know better than to try
to stay the same.
***Same post as over at the regular blog. But feel free to leave comments here. My spambot has gone crazy over at breedemandweep.com and I have to unsnarl the mess.
posted by Jenn at 9:17 AM
7 Comments:
INSECTS SPRAY OUT OF THE DRAIN? Oh, dear. We DO need a fallout shelter.
Wow.
divorce. my eye, my heart always turns when I see that word. for selfish reasons of course.
you've got such a gift with words Jenn.
I remember the first time I uttered the D-word. It was a purely hypothetical pronouncement, But two years later my husband would use that instance as an excuse for his eventual affair. Awful.
Oh, Jenn.
Such beauty out of such pain, your words.
So, does that punchline bring the funny, or does it deliver a swift blow to the kidneys? Can you laugh while doubled over in pain? Or can you make the doubled over part look like you're laughing uncontrollably? I think bipolar bears have the advantage here.
Canadian prairie cities have some of the best names. I think "Balzac" is my favourite. It doesn't take much to make me giggle like a little school girl.
That was so lovely.
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