the last salmon
The apple wore pants to the school dinner so we put on our eating trousers. I thought I saw Sicily go by but I didn’t, the window misunderstood what the gourd band expressed. The bear escaped the circus at the exact time hibernation fell upon him so when he woke up at the fairgrounds he was exchanging playing cards with music drawn on his hat. Complaints didn’t come from where i expected, they never do. so i ran down the same arid place i always do, with the same non-result. what are you doing, they asked. i replied i’m the last salmon. oh, i heard, like a waterfall, when i fell i never landed.
+++
goodwill
Trees went to goodwill looking for clothing that fit but didn’t find any.
The apple wore pants to the school dinner so we put on our eating trousers. Love this. Strange wonder.
thank you koss!
The Last Salmon
Eating trousers for the win. And love the bear/circus sentence. Is this one based off of a movie premise? It reads like a sideways synopsis and I love it. Near the end of this prose poem, the ‘i’ punctuation begins and some of the commas/periods seem to slip me up a little. Tiny suggestion: “Complaints didn’t come from where I expected, (they never do) so I ran down the same arid place with the same non-results. What are you doing? they asked. I replied, I’m the last salmon. Oh, they said. I heard them like a waterfall. When I fell, I didn’t land.”
Goodwill
Love the idea and the visual of trees going shopping, especially to Goodwill. I edited the sentence ever so slightly, but just a suggestion. This one is great. I could see a tiny sequence here of one-sentence fables. Mountains visiting flea markets. Flowers digging through vinyl. A warthog buying baseball cards.
“The trees went to Goodwill looking for clothing but nothing fit.”
thanks for these suggestions ben! i was writing to masanobu hiraoka and when i got up it took me to that little story. “eating trousers” i had for a while and this weekend helped give it a home. this has been really great!
I thought I saw Sicily go by but I didn’t, the window misunderstood what the gourd band expressed. These images mingle a unique world I want to wander. So intriguing.
thank you sheree 🙂
Hi Robyn! That first sentence is killer and then it keeps on keeping on! I love the negation and the matter-of-fact voice that trounces through this musical fairground: “Complaints didn’t come from where i expected, they never do.” Truly gorgeous! LOVE!
thank you meg, i like that characterization!