I'm Melting! I'm Melting! (Re-post)

I was walking down 14th street to my apartment, and it seems the bums have been very busy in the last couple days peeing in the alcoves of closed storefronts and restaurants. The nose knows, and the smell is especially noxious since we have not had ample rain as of late.

I imagine legions of homeless arm in arm, swaggering down the street slurrily chanting pirate ditties, loudly muttering to themselves; lamenting their lost loves and lost legs.

"That bitch took my heart, and then she took my whiskey!"

"I was ambushed outside a village and before I knew it, I only had one eye!!!"

Like a parade of fools they saunter down the block until their vagabond bodies demand rest, whereupon they find a box or some discarded clothes and bed down for the night until the next day.

Sol takes over the sky, and like everyone hustling through Times Square, weaving through the tourists on their way to work, the bums have to make their living too.

As I punch in the code to get in, I hear a rumble and the clouds close any gaps of clear sky overhead. Then I hear it, and I smell it before I feel it. Rain. The door shuts behind me, and I'm thankful to have missed the storm. I wonder where the neighborhood derelicts will find shelter tonight. In my room safely, I imagine them peeing - making hasty waste - in the nearest/darkest corner they can find before the rain comes. They don't want to do anybody a disservice... the smell of piss cultured and fermented on asphalt is not something humans enjoy, even the homeless... at least I would like to think they don't. Perhaps our instincts are to thank for that threatened angry feeling so many are overcome with when smelling piss on a street. Maybe it's like a dog - do they feel their territory is being invaded and defiled?

Tonight I will go out. I will drink cheap swill and then go home stumbly, singing pirate ditties to myself, and going over stories in my mind where I lost love, and lost face. Maybe I'll pee in a corner. Maybe I'll pee on someone's chest?Circles upon circles upon circles. Endless circles.

Currently listening : DE9: TransitionsBy Richie HawtinRelease date: By 15 November, 2005