a poem and a story

#72

the duchess before dining rang for the maid to bring her a belle
dinner was eaten by those who ate
fresh fish was served by a seal with laryngitis

a cat with pregnant paws interrupted the meal
a pillow erupted when touched by a hand
the light went to sleep in mid motion

is this how things happen when they happen as they happen
this confused her from time to time
i must stop now because time has gone to sleep


s.a.m.

in the air was the rare odour of air, which one usually smells only every thirty-two seconds when he did something which astonished everyone assembled in the ballroom. he stepped through the doorway. several of his friends had come to celebrate his ninety-ninth birthday. he had just turned twenty-seven a few weeks before, but he could not be sure that he would live ti reach his 99th birthday so he decided to go ahead and have the festivities, and if he did live that long would his friends still be around.
the reason for which everyone was astonished that he entered through the doorway was that he usually made his entrances through windows, having spent much of his youth breaking into apartments and leaving purple roses which he raised for this purpose. even after he stopped doing this, he stopped because there was no mention in the press of his actions, he would enter friends' apartments through their windows out of habit. this upset some of his friends at first, but they got over it.
he decided to come in through the doorway this time, because he knew everyone would be watching the windows awaiting his arrival. the event was a costume party and he was dressed as his idol, myra breckinridge, his goal in life being to find a cure for the disease commonly known as machismo or macho. he founded s.a.m., the society for the abolition of machismo.
the ballroom was decorated with tape recorderrs and portraits of andy warhol, and recordings of four saints in three acts were heard coming from the tape recorders, starting on one and going to another in random around the room. on a table to one side was a cake in the shape of a pair of breasts with a sign that said, "here they are."
the guests were dressed as the sitwells, marilyn monroe, jean cocteau, rex reed, truman capote, bette davis, joan crawford, isadora wing, etc. hors d'oeuvres were served by waitresses dressed as ernest hemingway.
there were groups of people talking about this and that and other topics, the usual topics of the conversation which would put one to sleep under other circumstances, the topics heard in a herd of beautiful people. throughout the evening champagne flowed like champagne. several people were almost knocked out by the number of names being dropped. (have you ever had that feeling, dear reader.)they would have been knocked out if anyone was actually listening to anything anyone else was saying. there were duos, trios, quartets of people, each very aware of his own aria. people did not appear to be listening to each other, because one person would pause as another spoke, but letting another person speak was only an excuse to contemplate contemplation.


I have a few more pieces. I found one that I had forgotten about, but I have since misplaced it. If I find it I will post it.