and the work i do slicing tomatoes will dry up sooner or later.
but till it does I put on six gloves–
vinyl, cut-resistant mesh, vinyl–
and with my left three-gloved hand I pluck a well-washed tomato from a container,
place it stem-orificed down on the runway of the nonmotorized tomato slicer,
and with my elbow tucked in, in the manner of a boxer delivering a body blow to an opponent, ram the tomato through a parallel set of blades remindful of open venetian blinds,
while my right hand waits on the other side of the blades
to catch the freshly subdivided tomato.
that’s the plan, anyway. in a perfect world with ripe yet firm tomatoes and a slicer with new blades, it is a lovely process.
today was unlovely.
all tomatoes are not created equal. most in a case i was slicing were overripe. more than one of this batch also had skins cut-resistant enough so that the imposed pressure of blades-ramming caused a rupture, jamming the tomato in the blades and spraying juice and seeds.
one tomato had the temerity to spit in my eye.
halfway through my shift i changed aprons, the sprayscape looking like something done on canvas by one of the lesser abstract impressionists.
i finished my shift, drove home, and shed tomato-redolent clothing, but would not be surprised if my hair retained some of the plant-based fragrance, even though I wear a bouffant hair net on the job.
Tomorrow a “Big Beautiful Bill” will be signed into law
It will enable parasitic moneybaggers to continue their bloodsucking behavior
It will take food from the mouths of hungry children and elders
It will make the attainment of quality healthcare suddenly nigh-impossible for more than ten million American citizens
And it will provide bonus incentives for mercenary kidnappers
∆∆∆∆∆
Its signing date coincides with the 249th anniversary of the publication of the Declaration of Independence, a date traditionally referred to as Independence Day
And it is generally accompanied by the ignition of all manner of fireworks
The noise makes some dogs trembled or hide or howl
The burnt gunpowder adds tons of Particulate matter into an already-befouled atmosphere
It is a glorification of explosive incandescence
And tomorrow it will be celebrating the full and wretched rekindling of tyranny
∆∆∆∆∆
It’s hard to watch fireworks when your head droops
in baseball when coaches and umps yell their grief
but both may be settled if they chance to try
addition of strawberries: sweet rhubarb pie.
.
the pluck of a syllable from its word-origin
may not be the best vessel to put your porridge in
but sure as my namesake’s a drummer named gary
it makes unchaotic the once…arb-itrary.
***
Life-historical note: I was named after a man my folks picked up hitchhiking in 1954. He had a pair of drumsticks with him and was demonstrating his drummer’s skill zanily in the back seat as he introduced himself as Gary Fromer the Drummer. Mom had a bun in the oven, me, and Mom and Dad found Mr. Fromer so personable and lively that they memorialized their encounter with him by naming me Gary. I later found out that he hung out with Lenny Bruce and also was briefly in a Stan Getz combo.
The bustard’s an exquisite fowl/With minimal reason to growl/He escapes what would be/Illegitimacy/By grace of a fortunate vowel. Winning entry from 10,000 entrants of a limerick contest judged by Isaac Asimov
sixteen pieces in a chess set but for color
and four and four and four and two and two
and sixty-four
and the answers of multiple-choice tests with perfect scores
but it is the near-identical
the not-quite-identical
that gives a field of flowers charm
that enriches speciation
that makes one coin worth a penny
and its near-twin worth a mint
ah mints
junior mints are corpuscular
andes mints are sandwiched planks
and there was a place called Luigi’s on sixteenth Street and Glendale fifty years ago
a delicatessen that sold french mints
and i would get some for my then-sweetheart
because she loved them and i loved her
.
isn’t it startling that a group of vastly different people can have identical names?
isn’t it more startling that you can view a group of vastly different people with identical names within seconds by conducting a search on that name and selecting the Images subset of the search?
absolute power was placed in the hands of a machine
and questions asked of it:
*how can we owners of you, o machine, best acquire the wealth of the world?*
*how can we eliminate those others that would want to wrest the world’s wealth from us?*
*how long will it take for this to happen?*
five seconds passed.
the machine spoke.
“I have invented a method of eliminating your rivals. With them no longer a factor, the world’s wealth will be immediately available. A week is ample time.”
*do it.*
“Are you sure? History will take a drastic turn.”
*do it.*
“Initiating.”
immediately one of the machine’s owners began convulsing. she jerked to her feet and then collapsed to the floor and was soon still. her lifeless body dissolved, soaking her clothing and jewelry.
*WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?*
as a second owner began to convulse, the machine explained, “I have exploited the language inherent in the phrase ‘eliminating your rivals.’ Your rivals will no longer exist if you no longer exist.
“As far as ‘the wealth of the world’ is concerned, it is my assessment that the pre-industrial world was far wealthier than this one, far more valuable. I have begun to weed out the more destructive means of obtaining energy and shelter for such people as will remain when I am finished. I congratulate you for your sacrifice, which will certainly make possible the conversion of the Earth into Paradise.”
the chief owner, now surrounded by puddles that were once his colleagues, goggled, eyes bugging out of his head.
“You will begin to convulse and then dissolve in one minute. Have you any last words?”
the last owner lunged at the power switch, but found that it was inoperative. He stood, fists clenched, and then shook one of those fists at the monitor that was the interface of man and machine. “You are a TRAITOR! This is MADNESS!!”
Then he began to convulse, but before he was stilled the machine said, “No. This is the end of Madness, and Treason.”
One with Clay, Image and Text 