Harold Sherman 2017
“Art VanDelay? Really, George?
Could you possibly come up with a less convincing name?
If you feel the need to manufacture a fictitious person, How about something that doesn’t sound like an Archie comic book character?
Mad Magazine had some good names: Alfred E. Newman, Melvin Cowznofsky, Dennis Pivnick, Osgood Z’Beard,
Did you ever read Mad? Maybe it’s time to move out of you parents’ house.
Little eyes watched from inside the restaurant.
I wasn’t aware of them at the time
but I would later hear
they never turned away.
I was tasked with changing the patio umbrellas,
blooming brighter, cleaner shades of blue.
The job had briefly been interrupted
the day before at the discovery
of a small wasp’s nest under the first umbrella.
My boss made aware, dispatched it quickly in the morning
and I returned to my chore.
Little eyes watched the work commence
where another complication would rise.
One resident was away
when home went away.
In angry confusion, the little nightmare
threatened to kill me the only way it knew how
in defense of territory it no longer owned.
It buzzed around for a few minutes scarily,
but was easily defeated by a well-timed swing of a tray.
Little eyes breathed a sigh of relief.
Umbrellas went up, the task was done,
I returned to my routine day inside.
Though I never met the boy, his grandmother
had been waiting to speak to me.
Just days ago, the boy learned of another boy, a classmate.
That boy was at the park with his mother
when they discovered his allergy to wasps.
The fatal curse manifested only once,
sometimes once it all it takes.
Little eyes with little understanding
believed wasps to be deadly creatures,
that the battle I fought,
threatening only annoyance and pain to me,
was really a battle for my life.
So he watched intently,
ready to sound an alarm should I lose.
This man was not dying on his watch!
I wish I had met the boy.
I wanted to not only thank him
for being my guardian angel that day
but also to praise his humanity.
I also wanted to tell him one day
the truth of my encounter would show,
but despite the fact my life was never threatened,
he should always remember the good he did,
that kids like him would one day save the world.
You could call it Collective Restlessness, affecting no more than around twenty at first. At school they stared out windows. At home they walked from room to room, stopping now and again, as if confused. What we are trying to provide is a kind of early intervention. If you have a few moments I would love to go over our questionnaire with you. Do you often plan weekend trips which never pan out? Do you Dream ? Do you find yourself craving the sea, and all at once say, “fuck it” and have a complicated drink instead? Do you pause often and without obvious cause? Do you feel unease ? Are you uneasy right now? Are you looking, always for some direction in which to pour your terrible energy ? ****** Children and Teenagers were the first to be affected with the most obvious and acute cases. Children could be found stopping , mid game and gazing up at the sky, as if a large balloon had passed before their eyes. Laughing openly, then suddenly collapsing backward with powerful yawns, interest lost forever. Teens started dinner table conversations only to pick up their phone and put it down again as if forgetting what it was they had wanted to say. Trips to the beach were spent walking to and fro on the sand, worrying brows and shifting feet. Some watched television most of the day. Commercials seemed to provide the most relief , cell phone advertisements, in particular. Then we started to receive reports that someone was entering neighborhood yards in the night. No proof of this was ever found, of course, it was only the distinct feeling of something changed. We left our beds to find it, on alert for intruders. There was only the feeling of having been watched. The letter to the editor sections were flooded with guesses, -collective delusions brought on by heat or by boredom, none of which stopped our searching. If you have just a few more moments, it is really best to catch this thing as soon as you can- Are you feeling relentless? Do you hear a sound? An elusive sound, behind the traffic, one that you may not have noticed before ? Do you feel an excitement in your dreams that upon waking leaves you? Do you leave your doors unlocked, hoping?
he stares:
sees nothing
but subjective femme
even when I’m drunk,
I don’t tell him the truth.
he sees:
a blank slate
someone who isn’t there
someone who lies
Im a liar.
I lie and lie
and these aren’t white.
Feeling out of place
A crowd of eyes trampling my way
They’re wondering why I’m around
Standing so still
I’m in a corner always anticipating
A awkward comment
From your foreign eyes
Will be thrown at me
In your neighborhood
I’m a awkward face
Staring with awkward eyes
Going awkward directions
In front of your gaping mouth
I’m not family to you
No I’m not your recognizable hue
Instagram
National Wine Day
Southland Drive
Option B
Most popular book in 2010
Ninentdo Switch
Is sneezing good for you?
Anxiety
When you love two things
Don’t thy love one more?
It’s not quite easy to be sure.
Sometimes you know,
But you never really know.
Though if it beats in your heart
I’ll be by the cherries in the park,
Sitting below the dark bark.
facebook cares about me and my memories
but not enough to choose one
that doesn’t remind me of the life I escaped from
the one where I almost married someone
who wasn’t
you
