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Jerry McGuire
Meditation In New Orleans


The cockroaches-at-law impermeable, their briefs interminable,
swimming in phrases, passim, guzzlers of hug and handshake
while a hissing wind coils itself in the gulf: the gumbo sluggers
adumbrate their cozy aphorisms, all the babyfaces melting . . .

and hard hard against the so-and-so prevail
and long long etc. in the wagonmaster’s yard,
woe to us, long of tooth, fuzzy-bottomed, sloppy peckers,
countered at court-martial, gutted for o’er-topping . . .

blessed the barbecuers, hunky and oblivious,
sniff among their droppings, goof off and groove it,
derail their doowop if you know what’s good for you,
shazam of the mixologists drawn up to full measure . . .

the halogens sputter, the holograms wobble,
the smugger impertinences of the kids skunked
goodnight, oh weary arbiter among the rascals
harpoon me a Pimm’s Cup and let’s run this one over . . .

shagrug? buckknife? cookiecutter housewife?
What’s in it for me? scream the paramecia.
What’s in it for me? fizzle the stars.
What’s in it for me? gurgles Ponchartrain above us.


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