the notes

the notes said i loved you first and i loved you last and i loved you most but lucy pretty much ignored them while the rest of the house freaked out because that crazy riverbank strangler was killing people all up and down that yarra that summer and we were close enough to the river that you could walk down there in about five minutes

andrew said not to worry about it but then he got a beer and drank most of it and you could see that mimed worry movement said what he really thought

simon said fuck it and then rhymed bucket with it and then just when everyone thought he was going to say pluck it he said chicken instead and you can see it’s obvious what he was thinking

sarah came around later and everyone was smiles until she handed lucy another note that had been stuck in the split weatherboard next to the front door

the note said you loved me first and lucy dropped her half-completed papier mache on the table and said marisol? and rushed out of the house on a wild crosstown ride to this dentist girl she had known in high school

marisol denied it was her writing the notes then got all coy and flattered but lucy broke her heart for the second time by saying she:

a)      didn’t feel that way now;

b)      had been going through a phase

there were no more notes after that so we figured it had been marisol but then next summer a bunch of people got murdered on the riverbank and they’d all been getting notes so maybe it was just a coincidence but whatever

fairly certain

it was possible that for their entire marriage they hadn’t heard what was said but rather what they wished was said or wished was thought or maybe what they once saw in a movie or read in a book or maybe heard in a song that one time

george was fairly certain he’d never said he wanted lucy to cut her hair but she insisted he’d said he liked it

lucy was fairly certain she’d never said she’d wanted george to give her the silent treatment for six years and then hang himself in the garage, his dumb feet scuffing up old back issues of Time magazine

talking all serious

sideways like a fish sneezing
borrowed like an escaping cheese
stolen like the sun shining
broken like a perfect square

all i want to do is get off
or get on, get along, get down, get up
get some direction
maybe get sideways

twirl like a barrel
powdered like glue princess
sparkle like a vitamin cheating
shine like a folded page

all i want to do is get right
or get left, get a song to sing along
get some introspection
maybe get a section

sing like a closed box
sigh like a pirate jailed
hiccup like a dog caught speaking
embarrassed like a smoopsie talking all serious

align

bring your six-shooter
and your shield of thoughtless virtue
meet me down by the park
for our karmic realignment

cross your door with red paint
take down that iron horseshoe
fill the letterbox with lavender
for you are not coming home

that tired tirade laps over me
a warm, sibilant breaking wave
I am cotton-covered, whisper-wrapped
and positively protected from you

so I see the sneaking eagles
have been watching my position
well, the little golden mosquitoes
have been watching yours

so bring your six-shooter
and your shield of worthless iron
we shall go down by the park
and realign

The Magical Trannie Show!

the magical trannie almost got her first show cancelled because of the name but it didn’t happen because the religious people started arguing magical was worse than trannie and the other people said it was the other way around and in the end the tv station got all this free publicity and way more people watched than would have otherwise and so this mega audience got to see the magical trannie lift this disabled kid out of his wheelchair and he walked for the first time since he got hit by that bus and they say next week a bunch of guys with tuberculosis are going to be on.