sounds

taking a break from the stupid day

after making myself a little sick eating

more ice cream than you care to know

and having dastardly dreams

filled with self-jackaling

i finished the ice cream this morning

with the morning coffee

then proceeded to journal incessantly

for hours about interesting stuff

before finally strapping on the guitar

and going down to the street to busk

and having pleasant response

to the melodies of my first six-string busk

three bucks in 20 minutes

and my voice brought more smiles than that

until a bunch of kids with a drum

joined me enthusiastically

catching the ear of a neighboring business

which then shooed me off

probably illegally

so i moseyed the rest of the way

to Donna's van by the beach

she was tearful but glad to see me

still processing the shock that comes along with

waking to the sound

of six cops pounding on the metal

of your van at dawn

and yelling at you to get up

my friend was both strong and wise

in neither reacting nor interacting

and hence contracting with them

for they were obviously not extending

any kind of invitation toward mutuality

i'm guessing if she was cooperative

she would have been arrested on the spot

like so many others lately

for sleeping

we empathized a bit

and walked to autozone

i played blackbird

while she sought to follow up

with an offer of someone's friend to

repair the stuck van for barter

but who has for several days been unavailable

and will try again to connect tomorrow

rain in the forecast

i walked home to drop the guitar

finally see a van in my range on craigslist

only to now hesitate and wonder if i really want it

my friend onward to free pie advertised at the church

and a country music concert

to which i followed with the fiddle

long enough to find my friend gone

and sniff out a likely

proselytization

along with a pie eating contest

involving a scary temptation to overeat

which could harm a shrunken-stomach transient

trust ice cream boy on this one

back home to drop the fiddle

and tired from walking

grabbed the bike to head back to the beach

and see if Donna got the van moved

my rear tire flat from a slow leak

i stop at the corner gas for air

find out from a kind clerk its free

and all filled up ride on

for another block anyway

until the big POOM

back home i walk now with bike in tow

noticing the squished tire offering

an ontomontopeiac gestalt

or perhaps just a good punch line

which i refuse to take personally

schlep

schlep

schlep