Curt Curt

End of summer Curt, satisfied Curt, Curt who looks at Curt in the mirror and thinks Curt Curt, Curt who stays up late and doesn't sleep in, Curt who likes to dislike and dislikes what others like, Curt who shoves too much food in his mouth, too little water to drink Curt, Curt with no phone, hypothetical Curt, Curt with no butter, butter with Curt Curt, Curt dissatisfied, angry for no reason Curt, sad Curt, Curt on a walk, wanting to sit down Curt, curled up Curt, Curt remembering a younger Curt, yogurt in his hand Curt, occupying a bathroom Curt, a cat with big eyes looking at a Curt, dog owner Curt, roommate Curt, new friend Curt, Curt as Luddite, Asian Curt, German Curt, rural Curt, traveling Curt, a Curt in the mind, a Curt in the mud, a curt Curt, a transparent Curt, no-dimension Curt, Curt on paper, Curt in theory, spontaneous Curt, diminutive Curt, larger-than-life Curt, Curt is watching, watching a Curt is Curt, Curt taco, noodles with Curt, steak and Curt, hold the Curt, please, Curt, like a rubber ball Curt, Curt opening his mouth to say Curt, brainless Curt, bleeding Curt, thin and invisible as a windowpane Curt, breaking Curt, Curt like dust, dust on Curt, I'm OK Curt, Curt who looks outside and thinks, What must it be like to be other than Curt?

Bestest

For the most part, I like Monica's friends. Some of her friends are now my friends too. For a long time, well, ever since I got out of prison, left the bars, the stoney lonesome, the slammer, the greybar hotel, the hole, the guardhouse, the clink, whatever you want to call it, behind, I've made few, and strange, acquaintances. I think they were more like "encounters" than they were "hanging out" sessions, more than they were "getting to know you" times or "let's do this again, soon" moments. It was all so crazy then! Ha!

Let me tell you something about Monica. She is very hyperbolic. Everything is either the best or the worst, the biggest or the smallest, the sweetest or the bitterest, the cheapest or the most expensive (but she says expensivest), the cleanest or grimiest--you get the picture? So all of Monica's friends are either the nicest or the shyest or the funniest or the hairiest or the shortest or the tallest. What am I?! Monica introduces me as "Curt, the bestest roommate everrrr."

The hairiest friend, Marvin, likes to tell stories. He told a story today. It was about going under with anesthesia. He said that when he went under and came back, he felt like a different person, that his name, Marvin, sounded wrong to him. He doesn't like to be called Marvin, so now we call him something else that I can't remember right now. After he left, it was late--it was like 5 minutes ago. Now I am typing this and I've just found a long strand of hair (probably Marvin's) on the keyboard. Monica is brushing her teeth. She brushes her teeth for literally five minutes. Monica has the cleanest teeth ever.

So sparkling white!

Pony and Thom

Monica was making fruit salad. Her friend Pony was shucking corn. Pony's boyfriend Thom was putting something on the grill. The dogs were in the backyard. It was a potluck!

I was picking certain fruits out of the fruit salad and putting them in my mouth and watching Monica, Pony, and Thom playing a game that involved extreme pantomiming. It was dark outside and raining lightly. The ceiling fan was on and doing nothing. Burning Sand and Loving Hand were poking their heads into another room and then wagging their tails.

A scary movie was put on. The lights were turned off. Pony kept talking throughout the movie. "Don't go into that room, stupid!" Pony said. "Geez! How stupid can you be? There's a ghost in there!" Pony said. "Ha, ha, yeah, how stupid!" Thom said. "Yeah, so stupid. Oh my gawd, what an idiot!" Pony said. It was kind of annoying how Pony kept talking throughout the movie. It wasn't scary because of Pony's voice. I wanted to say stuff too, but I have self-control. I understand that fear makes a person stupid. Fear makes you go into rooms that you shouldn't go into. That's the way it is. In the movie, a mother was exorcised. When she was possessed, her face looked like a canvas of cantaloupe peel. Her eyes were small and terrible. She spit-up blood. But the demon was cast out of her, and her face returned to normal. The daughter she tried to kill loved her again. They shut the door to the house and never looked back. Pony didn't say anything about that!

Pony and Thom went home. Monica was cleaning the dishes. It had stopped raining sometime during the movie and it smelled good outside. I wasn't even a little bit scared.