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the distance between 32nd st slightly north of thomas on the east side of the street/and the mcdonald’s slightly south of indian school on the west side of 32nd st/is exactly one mile

after you walk across 32nd st and head north/you will pass an apartment complex that touts its “sparkling pool” but beware/for another sign that says “newly renovated” has been up for over a year

you will walk past what once was a church and what now seems to purport to be/a sanctuary for people who are bent but not broken

and past the southbound bus stop at clarendon/you will approach another apartment complex/one that once had a “now leasing” banner with a number to call/but the banner is gone and since i once lived there it amuses me to think/that a resident driven to enragement by inattention to such issues as pest control and mold management has torn down the banner

and walking past that artifact of pestiferous memory you now approach the fabled golden arches

and it’s pleasantly slightly warm being early/and your hunger has nicely gestated/and you feel slightly druglessly buzzed

melllow with three ells

with a mild case of the munchies

Image

…and they are correct. I was delivered by Caesarian section fifty-nine years ago by A. Franklin, M.D. of Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, California. Two women brought me into the world: the A was for Ann or Anne (my memory is a bit sketchy).

The photo above was taken where I now type, the Burton Barr Library in Phoenix, Arizona. I came here from up north in Cottonwood expressly to see the play RENT with my beloved daughter Katharine, whom everyone calls Kate. That will be at the Phoenix Theatre, easy walking distance from here.

The drawing I hold is the one my readers most told me to complete (see previous post “More from the Unfinished Vault”). It is of Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth dancing with great joy, or, at the very least, seeming to.

The words:

Rattling the rafters & raising the roof
Intricate steps is the way of the hoofer
Train with your partner till you got it made
AH to be DANCING unfettered unstayed

So far this birthday has been great fun. I hope to make another post before the day is done.