MEDIUM-SIZED OBJECTS

The boys are too gross!

Craving gravy the way they do -

It's enough to make a girl wince and flinch!

Whither the flint and spark, as the terrifying 

Cordite miasma billows invisibly 

Through South of Houston?

Shots fired would have rung out, echoing 

Among the antiquated edifices. Maybe it was just

A cop with a dirty gun,

Or a gun with a dirty cop...

[NOTE: The accompanying picture gives you a glimpse of how I do longhand prior to publishing here. I tend to write off the top of my head, off the cuff; and these days indulge my inner critics and editors during the writing process. There are no proofreading marks, and I seldom recast lines or scratch anything out. The moment recalled in this piece is a morning over three years ago, when I was homeless, eating out of bins; I was walking down lower Broadway. Suddenly, I came upon the most alarming bouquet: fresh gunsmoke. I immediately became hyperaroused, and pricked my ears up, to reconnoiter the scene. Alas, I marked no culprits. I then continued on my way...]