Monday, December 20, 2010

Things that are good/I ate some brownies at work

A young woman walked into my bar tonight. She ordered a gin and tonic, which I fixed with an interlude in the bathroom to blow my nose--I've got a cold or I'm allergic to the little black and white cat who's been slinking around here--and took down an art book and slowly, silently, sipped and read for half an hour. I asked her if she wanted another one when she was finished and she said no. She good up about five minutes later and, smiling and self conscious, said, "Can I just say thanks?" and slapped her two hands down on the bar. "I came here and I was feeling shitty and then good drink, good read." She moved her hands the whole time. "And you played Broken Social Scene. Just, thanks."

"You're welcome. And I like your dress."

"Thanks." [Head bob, spin on heel.]

That is a thing that is good.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Wednesday

Five pm. A woman tosses waste water from her house; the late, low sun lights it pink and red and glittering; an arc of precious stones for a long second tumbles across the street, into the gutter, down to the river.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Fortune telling

Last night a blonde hippie from Pittsburg did a tarot reading for me. We spread the cards on the wood floor upstairs and he began with the usual things young men say about women: this card says you're strong, you're a warrior queen; this one says you're spiritual; you have an old soul. Yawn. He flipped over half a dozen more cards: You're drifting. This way of life isn't exactly good for you, but it's what gives you power. It brings you creative power. You're in a pattern of constant dissipation of dreams--a big rush of energy, and then a slow ebbing away, like waves on the shore. Dismal, rather. He turned over a few more: You're going to keep traveling; you're not going to stop anytime too soon.  And then the last three:


Oh. And then, while you're traveling, you're going to meet a rich man and everything is going to change, just like that.

Ha. I don't know if this is the best tarot reading ever, or if I want to throw myself off a bridge because everything always seems to come back to "And then you'll meet a man with many goats, and you will be first wife, and your sons will be strong and tall."

But I suppose this is what you get from a 24 year old psuedo-saddhu from PA, for god's sake.