Vaudevillian Bombardment Fantasy (A.)

Jesse S. Mitchell

previous part, http://santiagosession.blogspot.com/2014/09/and-this-is-what-causes-us-to-imagine.html, here

Lithe, good on his feet, a song and dance man with a great sense of humor.  Used to keep 

Them in stitches, glued to their seats, all those long many summers in the

Catskills,

Those holy mountains,

Fasting basically, going without bread or wine

Living on his wits.

He moves with grace, run-walks, across this soggy polder land, trees lining both sides of him

Dappling and breaking the light like a giant mirror ball as he passes.

Early morning, new bright sunlight streaming through, here and there and then gone, shadow lines.

The smells behind him, he cannot ignore, scorched rubber, burning gasoline

But the sounds he drowns out, the sounds that vibrate off in the distance, he disregards

He plays music in his mind

A trumpet squawk, an organ swell, a screech of violin

Horse gut on four tight strings.

Sometimes full on orchestral blare.

Mad gas-men in pursuit, always in pursuit

Flamethrower arms, machinery legs, and camel backed

Awful women-and-children-killers.

The days are long.

Common fantasy, known to most men in times of distress, 

What would you wish for,

If you had the chance to wish for anything

And have it come true?

Common answer, a million dollars, all the riches in the world.

He is out of breath.

He can feel the blood in his lungs.

He can taste it.

Cold metal in his hands

Rubbing the side of his leg raw

From the swinging

From the running.

He won’t ask for money, he imagines.

He would wish for a million years.

One hundred-thousand lives

All that time,

He would go everywhere in the world once, everywhere, every town, every village, every resturant.

Once.

He would see it all.

Then he would go back and see it all again, learn everything you could learn about everywhere and everything.

The best answer to any question, the best way to do anything.

The best way to peel a carrot.

The best way to end a fight.

The best way to build a blimp.

And then, he would go everywhere in the world again

And tell everyone, everywhere, everything he knew.

Fix everybody right up.

If he just had the time.

Who wants a million dollars when you could have a million years.

Bend back trees and skeleton houses tremble as bombs after bombs

After bombs

After bombs

Do whatever it is bombs are intended to do.

Explode.

But he is a graceful young man

With a good attitude.