Sorry But #996 Is Very Very Personal

Tomorrow is your Day
Eleanor

Please whisper in her ear
Two words:
Go West

Whisper them again
And Again

I am waiting
With a double mantra:

Our Father
+
Hail Mary

In my defense
I'm just sitting on a fence

In Long Beach
But not
Long Beach, NY

In 90802
Just like
The Queen Mary

But Mother Eleanor
Just whisper to your daughter:
Go West

FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE...

...Gathered in Central Park
To proclaim their freedom

In front of a man
With a bullhorn

On the count of three:
Five Thousand People
All shouted

NOBODY TELLS US WHAT TO DO

And they did so in perfect harmony
In perfect obedience to the man
with the bullhorn

Plagiarism

I woke up
And looked at Fred
Memory raced
Across my head

Jumped the bannister
The floor was down
Coffee’d up a costume
Today a clown

Found the foam
Inside a cat
In the cab:
Three seconds flat

Blew my nose
A very loud range
No one noticed
Nothing was changed

Then laced my shoes, oy vay
Five sizes too large in Westchester
Lace holes were so damn small
The driver had to count them all.



**************************************
PHOTO TAKEN

≈ 2008
Bayside, NY...
Northern Blvd
a/k/a Route 25A

$150 hotel room w/
Jacuzzi bathtub +
$10 pack of Pall Malls

Located...

East of former
Kiddy City
Slightly more east of
Dr. Eckleburg's eyes


Slightly less east of
The Mom's Apple Pie
Album cover creator's studio.
I was patron of the artist:
N.Caruso




That Long Island night in 2008,
Scott & Zelda were in my dreams
+
Massapequa was in my schemes


The next day, I lunched with McCarthy


**************************************

Today, I plagiarized the Beatles after finding my way downstairs


Tomorrow, on behalf of JohnPaulGeorge&Ringo, I am going to sue myself

Hap-be Lated Birthday, Mick Jagger

Two days ago was Mick Jagger's seventieth birthday

And--at least--seventy fingers would be needed to count
All the excellent Rolling Stones' videos...

Therefore, I went elsewhere
to find an appropriate video.

PERFORMANCE was an extraordinary 1970 film
made even more extraordinary when seen
under the influence of the chemicals of fashion


Mick Jagger
Memo From Turner


This youTube video has
a three minute preface
leading up to the song

And I will go to my grave believing
that the back-up singer whose voice
is heard in the preface...

Is the same back-up singer
on the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter

Her name is Merry Clayton
So..........Please ask:

"Paul, why will you go to your grave
believing Merry Clayton sang in PERFORMANCE?"

Because Merry Clayton attended Jefferson High School and...

Had I begun my career there twenty years before I started teaching at Jefferson...

Merry could very well have been one of my students

But please..........
hold off on that "taking it to the grave" business:

The Wikipedia link for Merry Clayton confirms that a
Jefferson student did indeed sing in PERFORMANCE

As for all those Rolling Stones' videos...

The absolute very first video of the Rolling Stones
for American teenagers was originally broadcast in October, 1964

They performed Time Is On My Side on the Ed Sullivan Show

And, once upon a time, Mick Jagger was only fifteen years old

Catacombs In The Bronx

On my first visit to the Catacombs
At St. Lucy's in the Bronx
I stood alongside a young couple

She wore a long sleeve dress
He wore a sleeveless shirt

He had a tattoo
Of a naked woman
On his muscular arm

Then Linda said
"Father is ready"
I followed her into the rectory

When we walked to the car,
Father Frank was holding Judy's hand

She was sixteen
Her brother was twenty-two,
Her sister was twenty-five

The pastor of St. Lucy's parish
Said the magic words:
"Do you want to eat pizza?"

His newly-orphaned nieces and nephew
Gave him a look that said:
"Does a bear shit in the woods?"

It was a meal to be remembered
For more than forty years

After we were seated
The executor of our mother's will
Was greeted by the maitre'd

His name was Vito
Or maybe it was Carmine
"Padre, it is great to see you."

The Padre introduced
the three other Oliverios

Carmine welcomed us enthusiastically
Or maybe it was Vito

Whoever he was,
He called over the waiter.
"You give me the bill for this table."

"Yes, boss."

****************************************

At St. Lucy's Church, in 1972
The name that was closest to God
Was Oliverio
As in "Father Oliverio"

But I will always
Always
Know him as "Father Frank"
Or--and this is simply better--
FATHER

Mortgage-Free Cats

There are catacombs
And there are cat-a-homes
Some are well-rigged
Some are built with twigs

To Be Continued