Waiting

For that moment to arrive. I hate to quote Paul, but he's lived a long time, not to mention Mr. Simon, who has certain skills, especially where the bass line comes in. I'm sorry, were we talking about something? Judas, at the end of the bar, mentioned selling out. I wondered where he was coming from. Seems to me there's a scale, and you weight the gold against whatever hardball you have to play. An odd game, you make the rules as you go along, but there's a referent, a chart, and you compare the results. Bear with me. If ever it had happened that you might have stubbed a toe, say, maybe, drunk, a given night, stumbling around. Maybe there was an ottoman misplaced, or an end-table slightly askew, it happens, in the dark, at night; you stub a toe. A violent discourse involving much swearing, maybe a painting falls on your head, maybe you break some glass. I don't know, but I've been told, we all get clumsy once in a while. The way things constellate. What stupid idiot put a pile of books there? The ridge is heartstoppingly beautiful, full sun, no wind, 42 degrees, I have to take a walk. Haven't done it in a while, so I walk the entire rim of Low Gap Hollow; the complete drainage, like a horseshoe funneled out. I carry my Sassafras walking stick. It has a bulbous root handle that fits my hand and is strong enough to smash things, if I need to smash something. I've been smashing oak galls recently. All those acidic layers harboring a sweet, liquid, inner core. Manna. Once you've gone over to the acorn side, you start subscribing to the whole program. It's best to be leery of systems. I went under the house and my repair to the gray-water drain has held against several freezes, and the ground, under where the break was, is dry. So I'm on for tomorrow. These are exciting times. I'm drinking a lot, but it probably doesn't mean anything, and I'm increasingly careful where I place my next foot. Meaning what? Right. What isn't said. Change a question mark to a period and everything changes. You might have been there, a slot-canyon, nowhere to go. What do you do then? We have a protocol, I'm not allowed to any prior knowledge, BUT.

Tom

Have to go. Make the best of it.