NOT EVERYTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS BUT IT MIGHT BE

 

Those chicken wings are not really wings.

They are just chicken “nuggets” that look like wings.

A machine probably squeezes the “chicken batter” into molds to look like wings.

Yummy.

No bones!

*

In India I saw some peculiar things.

I realize now that I wasn't in my right mind.

Still, I remember what I saw, and it's been long enough now that I won't be put into a bug-house. 

 At least, I hope not.

It was 1978.
 

I was lost.

(I wrote a couple of poems about this experience. *see below*)

I didn't include the more peculiar things that I saw, so I will now.

While walking one night (and, boy, did I do a lot of walking in India!) I saw a small camel sleeping (or dead?) on a sidewalk.

I swear that this camel raised its head up and moved it back and forth as if it was telling me “No”.

About what I'll never know.

But I remember what I thought:

“He's telling me not to walk here.”

It was a creepy and smelly part of Old Delhi.

But I kept walking, and nothing bad happened.

*

I was still walking (as I point out in my poems.)

At one point I saw a house that I just knew had an American living there.
 

It had a fence.

I started walking toward the house.

Then a man appeared.

But not quite a man.

He looked like one of the simians in the movie Planet of the Apes.

First he was an ape, and then he was just a normal-looking human.
 

I blinked a few times, then approached the man.

I don't remember what he said, but he went into the house, then came back out and invited me to come inside.

 

An American greeted me.

I don't know what I said to him, but I remember he asked me if I wanted something to drink, and I said, “Yes, a screwdriver.”

The man-servant who had greeted me outside promptly brought me my drink on a shiny, oval platter that I thought was made of gold, but it was more likely just brass.

The American disappeared into a nearby room.

I heard the voice of President Carter, but it was just Carter speaking at a news conference or something.

I'm sure he wasn't speaking with this American.

The American came back, and said that he would have his servant take me somewhere safe.

 

*poems*


Lost In India Part I 
     

I was thinking about India and
The white Brahman bull.
I was just standing around.
Wearing a colorful quilt.
When I turned around.
The Brahma bull was touching my nose.
Life's movements
Quickly move like that Brahma bull.
Attracted to colorful motion.
Suddenly it is here.
Life.
Death.
Romance.
Then I got onto the cart.
Being pulled by a different bull.
The dark Indian man lightly touched me.
Felt my ribs.
Wondering in silence.
Who was I?
Why so thin?

LOST IN INDIA




I walked & walked until my shoes fell off
When I saw green I jumped off the old train
When I hit the ground & rolled over I was
Surprised I was alive, I had bruises,
I walked into a medical clinic, they said I
Was ok & so I left, I had on my dark
Sunglasses, mysterious-looking dark stranger
Wandering, the sky got gray, the night got
Cold, it started to rain, I climbed onto a
Haystack to cover myself with straw, it was
a lousy idea, so I climbed into a small
Grain bin with a little roof & covered
Myself with corn meal, so warm & cozy, I had
on my dark sunglasses, I slept, I woke up,
It was a sunny morning, my dark sunglasses
Were gone, men were staring down at me & as I
climbed out of that warm corn meal heaven
Someone handed me my sunglasses, I was so
Relieved, I could see again, I started
Walking, walking, walking & my feet bled.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!