4:05PM - Central Time

So it's a little warmer now, like 29 degrees or something such. i went to the Green Mill last night (Chicago's first Poetry Slam Venue), read a poem, had a coupla drinks etc. On the way back from Lake Geneva last night, with Marty asleep on my lap, and it being dark, i could only reach into my bag to find the Book of Cheese Sandwich recipes - to write in - and so, on the back flap of the book scribbled in the dark, the first draft of this poem. Needless to say, it was interesting to try to decipher it to type it this morning, but here it is. Have at it as you all will:

Goliath is dying

- Are you ready to die?
- Since the day I was born…
(from Blade Trinity)

I hesitated
only for a moment really

the boy
was a lamb tender
raised on song and prayer
a singer a dancer
I heard

At his age
I was already wrestling
my father’s friends
to the ground

strong enough fast brave enough
I had no time for young maidens’
songs bells on their ankles
and hips

I was soldiering providing
bringing game back
to my hungry family
placing the future of Palestine
on my broad back

I was never ready to die
never occurred to me
too much depended on my living

so when the lad replied
since the day I was born
I paused

gave him enough time
to load up sling

doubt felled me
not the boy

I’d never considered death
so now
behind me a silent army
a dead Palestine

the dying sound of bells
on my sisters’ hips

I head back to NYC tomorrow - Doubtless there'll be more to report before then...