Peddling Thoughts

by phil on Monday Jun 16, 2003 11:32 AM
poetry

The trumpet's in the living room of the lion's tongue. Inside the pink peddler is trying to sell his soul to the orange biker. Together, they form the dynamic red-orange team, an offshoot of the spiraling shitzu cult that found its home in the incisors. They wonder about the putrid smell and hired a prophet to guess what the various smells meant. In other words, the Lion is the God and they are the lemmings awaiting their fate.

Orange Speedo man, call him Carl, talks to the Red Peddler, Jimmy.

"Jimmy, what is it that is so important for you and your peddlings"?

"Carl, you don't understand. You never will understand. Knowledge is power and you have none.

"I seek intuition, I seek feeling, I seek, bikes"

As Carl took his bike and moved around, the lion's tongue was tickled. The incisors opened and closed.

I felt in disorder upon seeing this scene, I wanted to pull the lion's mouth open to understand why these germs were plaguing him. He wouldn't let me, so I just took my laptop and smacked him in the face. Fortunately, he was drugged up and not in his usual feeding frenzy, otherwise I would've been bored to death watching him feast on leftover snakes that I had put in a bucket.

I wonder if he has a preference, boredom or death.

I sat back down and I too pondered, why, why must I think? Is there a purpose. Does the Lion think? What would he think if I sat on his back and started to use him as a tool for my amusement, like in an amusement park.

The prison gates of this cell that the Lion was in was kind of haunting, I wished I too was out. I needed a job to get to work. But back to the biker and the peddler.

The Peddler was watching the sights that would come across his mind, and the biker came back up to him, said, hey, Jimmy, why are you so dreamy?

"Because it helps me understand the universe"

"Why?"

"Always with the why, and the when, and the questions, the questions"

"What is the most vexing question that you have to answer"

"I think, life" Whathat is life for people like you and me. I get bored sometimes man, imagination feels the spaces.

I try to go biking every once and a while, that's my boredom.

"Aren't you just buying time?"

"And what do you call hat you're doing"

"Progress"

Ironically, they were both paddlers, one of knowledge, the other of bikes. Both of progress, one of the mind, the other of physical space.

I too, was a peddler of sorts, of drugs for this Lion. I took it upon myself to do a handstand. thought that maybe if I could get my shoes to touch the ceiling, gravity would be reversed.

But, my teacher Mr. Madkins told me something about cost-benefit analysis, and then I had to start thinking about whether it was truly beneficial to reverse gravity.

Beyond the gate was Kelly B. Kelly B be the cutest lionkeeper co-worker that any teenager could dream of.

She liked me, I could tell. There was something about the look in her eyes that said, "I am going to get you"

"Hey Phil, do you want to sleep with me?" .. I imagined her saying.

I decided to be arrogant that day, I had French wine or I saw the Merovingian in the Matrix who reminded me of french. Somehow I felt that arrogance was expedient. I said no, a second time.

"No, no"

"What are you saying no about?"

"I'm frustrated with this lion, it has terrible germs, and I can't clean them"

"Let me help and massage your back" ... I imagined her saying.

She opened the prison walls and sat next to me, thinking, understanding.

I decided I would touch her, but I didn't. Kelly B started to talk, or at least move her mouth open and closed. She had gum in her mouth, pink gum I could tell. She did that thing where she takes the chewed gum, puts it halfway outside of her mouth in between her incisors so somehow someone else could see it.

I didn't think it wsa attractive at all, this extra tongue that was coming out.

"What do you want to do tonight?"

... this I wasn't imagining her saying. I hoped. I responded anyways, but gave a vague response so that if I was wrong, it could look like I was talking to myself.

"Go to the movies."

Apparently I failed in that ambiguous statement.

"Which one?"

Good, she did ask me.

"I want to see, Tiger Eat Cantalopes"

"Wasn't that on Discovery?"

I decided to invoke arrogance again and remained silent.

Silent except for the chewing and the rustling of the Lion.

Water started to seep into the room, it got my feet wet. Kelly kind of was stressed out by it. I fancied that maybe I had somehow changed gravity enough so that a new tide came in. That would've been nice, to change the sea through gravity. I herad the moon does that occasionally.

Bac kto the Peddlers.

"Carl, why are you so gay?"

"Please, none of that derogatory stuff. It's bad enough that the incisor people won't talk to me, and now I have you."

"Aight, I'm just making conversations."

Why wouldn't Kelly B sleep with me.

"What, excuse me, did you say something?"

"Yeah, why is the canopy opening over me?"

"Is that why you think it's getting wet?"

No, I bet you're getting wet.

pause...

good, she didn't hear that.

"Well, I'm going to see the supervisor."

"Yeah, you go do that"

"No need to be so sarcastic Phil."

"Uh, um... OKAY Kelly"

Kelly left and I was all alone with the lion, the water, and the peddlers. I wonder if I could speak with the peddlers.