I consider these nonfiction. Most of this happened over a decade ago, but these are the Glen Elk stories I recall and retell most often. If I haven’t forgotten them by now, that means they are an active part of my life still, informing my walk. This volume is the miracles and legends section of my ode to the neighborhood. But they’re all true.
MADISON
“Madison fell!”
They beat the back door
“Open up! Madison fell!”
Two pieces of
The wooden fire escape
Broken
And the child was gone
30 feet down
Into ruins-
Bricks, nails, and glass
Her mother running
Down to the body-
I called 911 because
I knew she was dead
When the firemen came
Madison was awake
In her father’s arms
“May have internal bleeding…
Better take her in.”
We were silent
On the street
As the ambulance
Drove away,
And we smoked
100 cigarettes
I prayed
And the women cried
In despair
Because their prayers
Had never been
Answered before
Hours later
Madison was home
“She is okay!”
Said her mother
No breaks, no bleeding
“We stopped at McDonald’s
To celebrate.”
“How are you Madison?”
“I fell!”
“You sure did, sweety”
And I wept
And imagined her
Little body tumbling
Through the still air
Toward oblivion,
But slowed
To a gentle stop
By a flight of angels
And I repented
For my lack of faith
RICKY
A drunk on the sidewalk
Sleeping against the door
Of the women’s dorm
“Can you move him for us?”
They say,
“We can’t get around him
And we’re not
Stepping over him?”
Sure.
“Hey Ricky,
You have to move,
Why don’t you go
To the warm room?
These ladies need
To get back in,
Let’s go, Ricky,
You have to move”
Rising to his knees
“I don’t have to do shit!”
He swings at me
And punches my hip
It felt like nothing
And suddenly,
I was sorry for him
That he was so weak
“Ricky, my sister used
To hit me harder-
Let’s go to the warm room”
That night I stopped
Being afraid of
People on the street
COWBOY
I know nothing about him,
But isn’t that how
It’s supposed to be
With legends?
I saw Cowboy everyday-
Hat
Boots
Gaucho belt
Greatest mustache in town
Handsome grin
And I know nothing about him
Except for these things
And if he didn’t show
Even for a day
Thirty people would ask
Where’s Cowboy?
And if we know nothing about him
It’s our own fault
But that’s how
It’s supposed to be
With legends
THE PRIEST
Jason,
A chubby man of 25,
“I have eleven kids
With seven women”
He boasted once
I couldn’t do the math on that
“Why so many women?”
“I’m a polygamist,
It’s part of my religion”
He was Mormon, Buddhist,
Wiccan, and Muslim
Later
Josh the Artist says
“We’ve got a name
For Jason’s religion:
Pseudo-Mormadite”
THE PROPHET
A harsh-eyed man
Rises in the center
Of the dining room
And spreads his arms
“Give me some food!”
“Lunch ended an hour ago,”
Said the Cook
“Dinner is a five o’clock”
“But I’m hungry!”
He says,
like Charlton Heston
To Yul Brynner
“Come back at five.”
He removes a shoe
“THEN I SHAKE OFF
THE DUST OF MY FEET
AGAINST THIS TOWN!”
And exits
And fearful
That a bearded man
Had just quoted Jesus
In anger,
I think of Sodom, Gomorrah
And Elisha and the bears
“Maybe we’d better feed him”
The Cook puts her
Hands on her hips,
“Well, he can dust
His feet off
On down the road
For all I care!”
Matt 10:14-15, II Kings 2:23-24
MONK
“I was a lumberjack
And I got fired
For chopping down trees
Too fast-
They said I had to
Slow down
Use a chainsaw-
But I was faster
With just an axe-
Then me and another guy
Decided we’d work together-
Him on one side
Me on the other-
We just pulled the trees up
Roots and all”
“Monk, that sounds made up”
“What do you know?
You never
Cut down a tree”
Poems from Glen Elk (volume 1)
Lexidelphia 