Fiction - SlipStream - McCoy
SlipStream
David B. McCoy
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slip - an unexpected slide
stream - a steady movement or flow
GoodSAMARitan Press 2009
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tools are my neighbor's passion // passion for tools is so strong he has begun marrying them one by one // one day it might be a power tool - the next a screwdriver - the next a drill bit - but sundays are always reserved for saws - power or otherwise // other wives might find his behavior queer - but his wife is not overly concerned because to be overly concerned would be a waste of time // time -- she knows -- is on her side because at some point he will want to bed down with a chainsaw and chain-saws are known for being very temperamental...
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teeth are beginning to take over the yards in our neighborhood // neighborhood boys try mowing them down - fathers try spreading weed and insect killers - old men spend their mornings digging teeth out by the roots - but the teeth just keep growing // growing rather tall - the teeth have become traps for many small animals - which once trapped - succumb to death // death of so many critters has resulted in a - widespread - sickly odor // odor eaters and deodorant sprays prove useless - so we have begun lawn-flossing // flossing the lawn-teeth by hand - and by scrubbing with brushes fitted onto our now obsolete lawnmowers - to the relief of all - has given rise to a breath of fresh air.....
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pipes in my house have been invaded by aliens from a very tall and thin planet // planetary space travel by this group of aliens goes unnoticed because they are too thin and tall to be detected by even the most sophisticated radar equipment // equipment they travel in is also so thin it allows them to fly right up drainage pipes that lead from the street to my water and gas pipes // pipe plumbers are called but no clogs are found-yet as soon as they leave - water stops flowing and the heat goes off // off my rocker everyone believes me to be - even though no one is brave enough to come visit.....
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arthur has dreams where the characters in famous pieces of art become the characters in his dreams and include him in the activities pictured - once he spent the day in a french brothel with five cubist-like women // women in another dream were not women at all but adolescent girls juggling oranges in a troupe of acrobats wandering across germany // german artists - durer -always offers a startling contrast with his the knight, death & the devil where death & the devil seem to be jeering the christian knight on //on some nights - arthur is relieved to find himself in the presence of bouguereau's mother & two children calmly resting along the side of the road.....
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marching this year in the 2004 march of dimes parade are ten floats // floats include the dime a dozen float with twelve cute little girls dressed up as dimes - the can you spare a dime float with two hobos - the mercury dime float with the star athlete dressed as the winged messenger - the dime novel float with the town librarian dressed as laura jean libbey - the a good time for a dime float with donald duck - the dime bag float with a jerry garcia look alike - the roosevelt dime float with - of course - roosevelt - the one thin dime float with a rather anorexic teen - the stop on a dime float with wile e. coyote on the edge of a cliff - and the dime store float with the town's pharmacist dressed as a norman rockwell character.....
To Dave McPeek....
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development of new job skills has become an urgent necessity for elephants made homeless hungry and jobless due to deforestation anti-logging laws and the decline of traditional farming methods in thailand // thailand's solution has been to establish three elephant art academies where out-of-work pachyderms can earn degrees in abstract expressionism techniques // techniques at all three schools are similar - but subtle differences can be found // found in the northern thai academy is a more lyrical and loose style that tends toward the use of primary colors - brush-work at the central thai academy is more vigorous and tends toward broad strokes that sweep across the canvas - whereas the style of the southern school is more gentle curvy and embraces the use of more complex colors // colorful canvases from all three schools have been compared to the work of pollack and de kooning - who in their own right - were attempting to discover the beast within.....
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unknown is the direction of this poem which might or might not resemble the expansion of the universe ever since the big bang // bang and particles started rushing apart from each other with space outside the universe being filled like a small room being consumed by an expanding balloon // balloons would have been objects surrealists would have written about and perhaps reduced or enlarged into tulips // tulips circled my childhood home and now circle the home my parents will die in // in a sincere moment of passion I wish again to pick one flower and rub its smoothness across the skin of my face.....
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sucker research is sending shock waves through the world of light physics // physics in the past taught that the sun - candles - light bulbs emitted light outward and replaced the emptiness we call darkness // darkness - according to this new theory - is in fact sucked in by the light source until darkness is gone // gone too are myths perpetuated by biblical passages that go something like this - o lord, shine thy light upon us at this time of darkness // darkness of this sort once clouded thinking into notions that the earth was flat and still has some believing that the earth is only 6000 years old.....
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my father is ill // ill with a type of cancer caused by asbestos dust - dust with harmful effects which do not surface for 20 to 30 years // years of life are limited once the cancer becomes active because of no known long-term treatment // treatments of chemical lawn care my father also pays good money for // for his investment his lawn is green and lush // lush as it is - his lawn must be mowed regularly - but he is too weak // weekly he calls and asks me to drive over and mow his grass // grass gets cut and back it grows // grows too my father's cancer and more orders are given for more chemo treatments // treatments of chemicals now regulate my father's life - and - mine.....
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masses of people line the coastline - most are on the beach - many are in the water // water has washed up shells which we gather on our morning walks // walking as we do - we see hundreds maybe thousands of shells - shells that are both broken and whole // whole the people around us appear to be - but as all folks - we conceal some broken aspect of ourselves // our chairs - for instance - sit beside a woman who has - for three days straight - constructed a large mound of sand shaped into a volcano about to explode with her repressed emotions // emotionless her husband watches as she piles on more and more sand and then marches off with to two small buckets to retrieve water which she pours over it - assuring that it does not avalanche under its own weight // waiting - dumbstruck - are her two sons - wondering why mommy does not join them swimming // swimming through her own sea of childhood - though - she finds it impossible to stop erecting a metaphoric representation of her broken self.....
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lessons learned from fellow elementary and middle school classmates about sex were not enough to prepare me for the afternoon when the girl across the street appeared at our back door asking whether i might like to come out for a while // while i found the thought appealing - i saw nothing but danger as i looked down and noticed her white jeans unzipped // unzipped - open - and exposing pale flesh with half a dozen pubic hairs - hairs that curved slightly and seemingly yearned to be touched // touched as i was that perhaps she was inviting me out for more than a walk - i panicked and claimed my mother had dinner just about ready // ready to take me on as her partner? - it has haunted me these many years - or was it truly by accident she forgot to zip her jeans // jeans unzipped was one thing - but to be wearing no underpants - surely that was more than mere absentmindedness.....
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dog bark disease has crossed the mexican/us boarder on the backs of hopping mexican fleas to infect - from texas to california - gringo dogs // dog bark disease causes trees that have been "marked" to grow layers of dog hair over layers of bark // barking - it has been reported - has also been heard coming from infected trees // trees appear not to be the only things affected by this unexplainable disease - reports have been received that dog hair can be found growing on car tires - lamp posts - telephone poles - rocks - even in one case - a man's leg // legislation has been introduced into congress to restrict the movement of mexican hopping fleas -- but no effective means of preventing their border crossing has been developed.....
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a man-with-closed-eyes is driving down the street // streets with curves and street lights pose no problem to him -- hem-hawing drivers are more than willing to get out of the man-with-closed- eyes way // way more people than expected soon join the man-with-closed-eyes by jumping into their cars to drive with their eyes closed // closed eyes citizens soon begin showing up in all aspects of life and blindly file along in happiness and order // orders to do this and to do that appear in their heads and assure them that they will remain safe and secure // secure in their belief - these self-blinded citizens soon fall into lock-step marching.....
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shadows during the dark ages went missing // missing - too - was a sense of community - and it became a time without government or trade // trade not only diminished - the weather was colder and dryer - even the amount of sunlight lessened // lessened were aspirations - achievements and self-esteem of the people to the point that they could not even cast a shadow // shadows - to survive - resorted to burying themselves deep within the closets of subconscious minds until the fog lifted and the renaissance emerged.....
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second lives a life of seconds // second has lost every race - every contest - every appointment by coming in second // second suffers from the middle child syndrome as a result of being born second // second is always running late and constantly hears himself say - i'll be there in just a second // second let his first wife slip away and now is on his second // second always goes back for seconds // second sometimes feels like sloppy seconds // second always seems to be the one to yell out - that i'll second // second's curse continues in posterity with his second child being born on the second day of the second month of the second year of the new century.....
C
Copyright David B. McCoy 2009