~Haircut~

[DanBierce]

The plumage
of a rain-soaked crow
looks better
than the haircut I got
from a gay old man.

I think he was nervous.
The electric pruner
shook in his hand
as my hair
fell to the hardwood floor.

"I think you should go to a barber." He said.

"Yeah." I replied.

Two months have passed,
and I still haven't gone
to a barber.

No one seems to care.
I haven't heard anyone say:

"Your hair looks worse
than a soggy crow."

No one has asked:

"Who cut your hair? A nervous, gay old man?"

so I'm in no hurry
to get to a barber.

Someone did ask about the rent,
which got me to move
right away.

I jammed my clothes
into a bag
and walked to the bus stop
across the street from the apartment building.

The bus arrived
after about ten minutes.

After taking a seat
I noticed a fat chick
reading a copy
of Brautigan's: The Pill
Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster.

We began to talk,
and soon it was decided
that I would join her in the
cheap hotel where she was staying.

We got a bottle of Southern Comfort,
because that's
what she liked.

When we got to her room she started
to take things
out of her large purse.

The bottle of baby oil
caught my eye.

I wondered what the
good people
were doing this
afternoon.

Most
were probably
working
or getting an education
of some kind.

Boy, I thought;
how easy it could have been
for me to have become
one of them.

[Buh4Bee]

Dan- This is great. It reminds me of Kerouac On the Road when he hooks up with a Mexican girl that he met on a bus. I can't remember her name and she was described as beautiful. Not sure if you read it, I just did recently.

[DanBierce]

Thanks, Jersea. Chapter 12. Her name is "Terry."

[Buh4Bee]

That's right. Terry. Guess you are a fan.

[DanBierce]

I'm not really much of a Kerouac fan. I think On the Road was probably pretty cool for the time it was written, but after the '60's it lost much of its specialness. I was a hippy in the '60's. Now I'm just a wierdo. My favorite Beat poet is Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

[Buh4Bee]

I wanted to be a hippie in the 60s, so I'm out of place. Hah! I didn't really care for On the Road and I'm not all that well versed in the Beatniks. However, I am just trying to read as much good literature as I can. I haven't read Ferlinghetti.

[blazeofglory]

This is a good read and of course I like the way spoiled hair-cut is so poetically portrayed and such versification keep us amused and the same time there is a beauty the poet has been able to keep integral and such fusions are if truth be told singular. I am really engrossed in the poem deep down

[firefangled]

Oh how your signature poet would enjoy this piece. I did.

I like the way you establish the apathy of "those" people in the beginning. Not much is wasted in this poem.

Are you a Brautigan fan?

[Buh4Bee]

Oh how your signature poet would enjoy this piece. I did.

I like the way you establish the apathy of "those" people in the beginning. Not much is wasted in this poem.


You are right on! I didn't even think of that.

[DanBierce]

Thanks, Blazeofglory. Glad you enjoy the poem.

I find Brautigan amusing. I like his prose much more than I do his poetry. Sometimes I will put a dash of Brautigan spice in my own poems.

I think the ending of this poem is very Buk-like, yes.

[firefangled]

I find Brautigan amusing. I like his prose much more than I do his poetry. Sometimes I will put a dash of Brautigan spice in my own poems.



It may not be his best, but I have always loved the Brautigan poem, All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace. The title is poem on its own.

[DanBierce]

Yeah, that's a good one. My favorite of his is the one below:

~Love's Not the Way to Treat a Friend~

Love's not the way to treat a friend.
I wouldn't wish that on you.
I don't want to see your eyes forgotten
on a rainy day, lost in the endless purse
of those who can remember nothing.

Love's not the way to treat a friend.
I don't want to see you end up that way
with your body being poured like wounded marble
into the architecture of those
who make bridges out of crippled birds.

Love's not the way to treat a friend.
There are so many better things for you
than to see your feelings sold
as magic lanterns
to somebody whose body
casts no light.

[firefangled]

That's a good one of Brautigan's too. He could certainly create powerful images.

[Pendragon]

Grabs the reader from that highly refreshing opening

[cogs]

this suddenly switches trains of thought. i don't think the character is as bad as he thinks, and not everything is taught in schools. the first part is amusing, and at least his hair was shorter. i guess it boils down to what's important to whom.