dmseay

No calls coming-in….nothing going-out….communications were cut long ago…..no treaties signed….perhaps a stalemate….. The sun blings brightly….making way through …

Source: Greeley Square

There’s tension in this city…. this country…this world……Old hat? perhaps…it’s always been there….now it  feels uglier…..less palatable…..

A mistrust between races has reached the summit…an eruption coming…..Lava  spilled in Baltimore……Cleveland…..Florida….New York…..St. Louis….good luck putting the fire out…..this burn is not controlled…..

Political practices pitting whites against…..well….everybody whose not white…..blacks against……well….everybody whose not black…..Mexicans…..Hondurans..Dominicans…..Jews against Islam…..hell…..everybody against Islam….And the toxins are flowing in The Hudson….The Mississippi…..The Ohio…. not a breath is taken…. fear that it might be the last…..

The 21st Century feels like the previous…..Greed is good…..Crack is whack……The Cold War reignites…..Israeli and Palestinians have yet to agree on anything…..And…despite thousands dying on an early September morn…..America is still as arrogant as ever……Hey you….watch your step…….

It is Easter weekend in NYC…. on corners stand cops in numbers….Anti-terrorist officers…..National Guard personnel…..and an on-going reminder of HIGH ALERT…..Not again…..New York runs as smoothly as New York can…..Conservatives counting on a de Blasio fumble in the fourth……So-called Liberals hoping for an on-going momentum…..Just keep the ball moving…..

All are watching the clock….The scoreboard tells nothing…..a blank slate….There has to be a winner and a loser….it’s the American way…..a country looks-on….

And me?……….. I’m waitin’ for my man……..$26 in my hand…..

Thanks again to Lou Reed…RIP

The mag on the table was titled HEP: a hepatitis rag with hep c survivor Pamela Anderson adorning the cover…..blown-up boobs and a botox bill….God I’m in love….

Junkies in the corner dozed in and out of a methadone state of mind…not much there….gone….gone….gone…

I remember when she was CJ Goddamn it, Golden said, Yeah….she’s still fuckin’ hot… CJ survives hep c……Is there anything she can’t do?….

The addict in his forties….looking like eighties….verge of death….threw HEP down hard and marched outta the homeless shelter shouting…..

Fuck her, He screamed, Fuck that lousy CJ…..Some guys have all the luck…..She’ll get hers…..yeah….you’ll see….

Collapsing to the concrete….Golden looked-up at those peering down, Am I in Heaven?…..Well…..Am I?…..

Followers…..views… visitors….blogging….bloggers..long-gone are wordsmiths…poetics loom somewhere in the night….go out and find them….

Too many at home…..telling tales of branding and marketing and how to stay on top and get the most out of your website and….Oh fuck me…..

It is the craft at stake…..the art of language….. the discipline involved…To awaken and write….and keep writing….writing with purpose……purpose…..Get It?

Goodbye Western Canon…..hello best of Facebook…….

Goodnight nurse…..

An escalator doesn’t work….
Electrical outlets produce no power….nothing….nadda…..zip…
Bedbugs taking over a city that at one time was a mecca….now simply moronic….

The N train’s not running….
Number 7 is behind schedule….
A slasher (s) on the loose….
Once a fearless town…now always asking….when? which? Penn or Grand Central?…..Empire….or Trump?….

Police garding synagogues on Friday nights….
The Upper Westside wondering if another exodus is needed….
Where to go next on this 2000 year journey…..?

While beggers begging become beligirant to those without alms….
Miliniels oblivious as a world…a country….a city show signs of wear and tear……capitalism and commerce…..religious states vs. religious rights….

NYC’s toxicity is rising……And summer has yet to simmer…

Tommy had lost his marbles again….singing Cohen songs in Herald Square….top hat and dingy tails…..tap-dancing to his own bravado….

Give my regards to Broadway, singing at tourists with an ocassional nudge, I don’t work for free folks, the passing of the hat, Please…..no foreign currency…..

H-A-RR-I-G-A-N…spells Harrigan…..Come-on folks…..You know the words, no Tommy; those words were long forgotten; passed-away with Gershwin, Porter, Strayhorn only the queens at Sunday brunches in Chelsea remember the American song book….all pages have been ripped-out and burned…..

With a bill to his name, Tommy the Tapper strolls back to the shelter; still whistling away as passers go by……

Give my regards….

Running low on funds….end of the month….the eagle flies on the 1st…calls for funds depended on….first rule in America….Don’t depend on anyone….

Yes…This is Josephina thank you for calling PNC Bank you have come through as a verified customer how can I help you?

Yes Jsephina….I’m calling to ask why I have not been reinbursed for the one time use of a non PNC atm this month?

Yes you have been verified as a PNC customer I will be happy to assist you…

Yes…I just need the three bucks put back into my account please….

Yes since you have been verified as a PNC customer I will be happy to help you with that…..
(silence)
Yes I will need to put you on hold….
(and musak filled the air from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls)
Yes thank you for being a verified customer and waiting you do not receive any paybacks for non PNC atms….

No…every month I get reimbursed for up to…

Not unless you have the student vertual wallet account you have the…

No that is not what has taken…..

Sir those atm fees apply to your type….you do not….

No one ever told me about a student….

Sir I’m telling you now. …

Do I sense an attitude….

Sir ….

No…I’m sensing. …

Sir these are the rules of the….

Get a manager please…..

(laughs) yes sir right away sir….
(Hey ho where’d you go Ohio)

This is Dave of PNC BANK of whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?….

Yes Dave….I’m David…first question…..Does PNC go down to the docks each day to pick up day laborers to man the phones?….

Sir…

Very unprofessional Dave….esculating the conversation  to an argument…..

Yes sir I’m sorry you have not had an enjoyable. …

Dave….Where’s my three bucks for the atm fees?

Sir we changed that and you are no longer to receive any payments back unless you have the student virtual wallet…..

Is PNC financially in trouble right now? Are ya about to go bankrupt?…..

Sir Let me see about helping you today…..we’re all about helping our customers achieve success….

My success?

Yes sir….

Not PNC’s?….

Sir….

Keep the tre…..keep it….In fact…next week if PNC gets inna little trouble call me….I’ll toss you a few….

Sir…

Have you read the op-ed’s? …..people are pissed at your industry Dave….Do you hear me? Pissed. …..And….you win….it doesn’t matter what bank is used…..You’re fucked…..

Sir I have to stop this conversation because of abusive and obscene language…..

People have lost homes because of you…..and I can’t use the word fuck?……Think about it Dave…..think….

Throughout the day….SEND gets clicked….tapped..touched …and teased… more than a whore’s thigh….

A constant contest in popularity….the class presidency never decided…..

It is not marketing for money…nor prizes…..it is craft… AND…the discipline of craft….art…..that now stands in parrel….

Are writers writing words…..works which convict….bring forth thought….question norms?….Or….are we….writers….artists….simply aiming for numbers…..deadlines….the organic process done away with; truth has left the building….

And so we write….we film….we paint…..for whom?….

Until we can answer this question without reservation…..all bets are off.

Now hit SEND…..

He thought he was in St. Louis…surprised to be told by the cops it was Kansas City…..After mom died things just got strange….no-one could make rhyme nor reason of any of the old man’s thoughts or actions….kids just went along with what he said…never thinking he’d act on any of it…

A missing persons report was made-out…left everything behind…kids….dogs….a mortgage ….a vase holding his wife’s remains…walked-out….locked the door behind him …. just left….It’s what he always wanted to do… a wanderer from the beginning…aren’t we all…..

The oldest boy….got word and took a bus from Eads to meet the old man…drive him to safety….keep him under some kind of control…..He was good at controlling things….He controlled this…and that…. controlled everything but his own life…..had nasty habits…..never broke ’em…..

That ride to Eads was silent…..the old man was mad as hell that his fun had come to an end…..the oldest son was mad that his torment was just beginning……

Did ya’ eat?, the old man was asked, You want some food?….McDonald’s…..maybe a Wendy’s, the old man shook his head; food was given-up the day after mom went into a coma…..At that point he knew she was gone……

Ya’ gotta eat dad…..ya’ gotta eat somethin’……Look….I’m tellin’ ya’….

Just drive,….. a simple request,…..  please….just… drive…..

The son turned on the radio…..Art Bell was talkin’ conspiracies and predictions of doom……no-one made a sound…..just Art Bell talkin’…….and talkin’…..

No stops were made…..the old man kept staring out at the starless night; the Western night is always haunting….always….And..there were words running through his head as the kid turned the dial to some station playing a Buck Owens song…..They were my words….

Listen dad, I said, You do what ever you want…..You wanna go for a ride?….then go….just leave…..you don’t owe anybody anything…..We have that in common…..

When they stopped for gas dad went into the station for a Pepsi……The kid waited…and waited…..he kept-on waiting ’til daybreak…..he knew the old man was gone….you sense these things…..

The radio was turned back-on…..a news report about bombings and bloodshed……

 

 

 

No calls coming-in….nothing going-out….communications were cut long ago…..no treaties signed….perhaps a stalemate…..

The sun blings brightly….making way through umbrellas and mile high buildings…bouncing here and landing on those in search of warmth while a meaner breeze blows through Manhattan….a nation…..than ever before…..the cliche “Greed is good,” has come back into vogue… maybe….just maybe….it never left….

A firey ball blisters above Greeley Square….take it in…. take it in…

Let the worker bees work….let the nay sayers nay….let the liars lie…let the drunks drink…..I pass no judgment…..

Merely taking a seat in the commercial goo that surrounds us all…..

And….I think I’m stuck…..that is all..