binney & smith

binney & smith

smith & binney

what came in that box?
think it's glue

winfield, kansas 67156

no
wait
crayons
not that we use them much anymore

so what made those two guys
whoever they are
want to make stuff for school?

open window
right next to me

there have got to be kids
there in winfield, kansas
sitting in class right now

are they doing
the same lessons we are?

cursive was fun to learn
but i get tired of writing all the time

it is sooooo nice

outside

i'll bet you your brother's hot girlfriend
they're doing something cooler
in winfield

huge numbers
we add and subtract
like amounts of money
we never get to have

buses mosey into place
lining up for us

my fingernails know
by heart
every scratch in this desk

hmmm
need to have dad get my bike ready

too bad it's not one of those days
with something special at the end
people's moms bring in cupcakes
saint patricks day
or whatever

bus drivers get to stand around
and talk

here we are like those mice
in the cage

wish we had a science thing
experiments are kinda fun

i can smell the pavement
sun on the parking lot
somewhere between
rubber and dirt
*silent sigh*

someone needs to fix
the clock on the wall
it's so

slowwww

Duke Fabulous Reporting

Now this sho 'nuff takes the cake and eats it too. I ain't, I say, I ain't even a kiddin' this time. Just the other afternoon there I was shinin' my boots over by the radio, seein' as there was this ball game playin', and wouldn't you know there was a knock at the door. So I opened up and said howdy-do to some feller I ain't never seen before. With his hat in his hands and polite as could be he asks Mister Duke can I speak a question and I says all right. Turns out he's preparin' to claim paternity and wanted to get a few details straight. So I lean on the door post and raise one eyebrow as this dude 'splains this and that and th'other and how his momma said I's his daddy from a way ways back. Now, I knew that I knew that I never knew his mother, even from Eve, as they say, but what's the point in lettin' 'im off that easy? So I asks I say now do you have any documentation to substantiate said claim to my posterity? He proceeds to hand me his certificate of live birth and I reach for my speck-tackles. He keeps a spinnin' his yarn as I peruse the details, county seal and all that. In a couple more minutes he seems to run plum outta words and so I point out one detail in particular. I say, well, I say as much as I'd like to have you call me pappy I don't see how it could be. And why not, he wonders, lookin' just a tad let down. Well, it says right here, on this legal tender, you were born about five years be-fore my very own date of birth. Oh, he mutters and snatches the paper without even wishin' a good-day. So hear what the Duke sayeth. No matter how off a wall the assignment may seem at first, always, always do your homework. Duke out.

friday night

cozy house on a quiet brick street
snuggled amidst bustling foliage
'68 galaxy in the short driveway
the rest parked along the curb
misty drops on the awning
that shields the kitchen window
light's on over the sink
next to a kenmore blender
juiced on seagrams and lemons
baking sheets on the range
once held handmade pizzas
to go with tossed salad
little cubes of marble jack
and three kinds of dressing
some coffee in the melitta
hints of vanilla pipe smoke
miles davis on the hi-fi
laughter in the living room
around countless nests of rook