Send him home until he gets there

Sometimes rusting works well, and sometimes it doesn’t.

RUSTIC BLUE

In a chunk of daylight through the sodden fields where the light moved with the wind, Jigdog headed north; and nearer to the sky, a flock of birds headed south. Rain lashed down like it had an important date somewhere.
The sound of the river could be heard over the sound of the rain as the river grew huge; every day the river grew more until it thundered along.
Sometimes when the light changes you can see pieces of blue reflected
Sometimes shimmering
But today, with the rain it is more an open gallery for painters to hide under, and remember more in their imaginations than ever gets to canvass
Soon the leaves will turn in the fall
As painters, patient for that expression, await its coming
Turn the tides then in that beautiful knowing
And let the silence between all things soothe the heart from the rustic blue of it all to the delicate beauty of surrender, where we fall in love.

SEND HIM HOME UNTIL HE GETS THERE

The money men came today as I was driving my tractor, and planted trees in my orchard that began to grow in the warm sun, for a cost of course. I stopped my tractor and turned the engine off and just looked at them as they were growing and wondered what would become of me when I became rich.
Suddenly, I threw my hat into the air and danced around the trees and forgot all about my anti-depressants that were left somewhere I’d forgotten.
The thing about anti-depressants is that they stop the uncovering; and in your fear you hide in them to stop your love coming anywhere near to where you would be found, cowering in your servitude to your mind to find you lost. Oh, holy crap, we must get away, said the money men, and grew and grew until they were nowhere to be seen.
Now listen to me, I said to no one at all, as I looked around to find myself alone and on top of a hill waving my arms all about in surrender.
And as I surrendered I lost all puff and so played the blues on my typewriter that hadn’t had a reprint since 1964 but still gave all it had to the revolution that was waiting to give up the ghost of all that came before, but was now waiting in the wings to take control.
Yeah, I said, and couldn’t remember any more how long ago it was since I’d seen you with me, or anywhere I could just say: I love you.
But never mind, I’ve got a tractor now, and an orchard full of money trees that I hope will make me rich before I die.
As my hat came back down to me I remembered where my anti-depressants were, and catching it I rode back to town on my tractor with my sunglasses on and pushing my foot to the floor to get past the obstacles
Here?
What?
This one’s scarpered right out of his face.
Give him a nickel then, and send him home until he gets there.
In the anti-discussion machine, a small voice could be heard: give me back my money you god-damned heathens.
There was a time when I couldn’t understand why you were gone until I realised you were never gone. Which is when I started to grow a tree and I wondered if it was a money tree or whether I’d have to go down to the dole office every Monday for the rest of my life to collect the hand-outs I could never get used to.
Monday began to go backwards then and I found myself falling over again; damn, I said, that one never grows old, and then I realised how old I was.
Finding my girlfriend all of a sudden fallen over into her beer, I gave up trying to impress her and got on with my life; which is when I found I was near to the end of the story that was endless.
I am blinded by your glue that sticks my eyes together so that I can’t see anything, I said then, and strove like superman into the unknown to bend something out of the way of my eyes.
Oh, I strove this way and I strove that way, until the National Guard came to arrest me, and that’s when I just had to sit down in protest.
If you die like this you will be brought to the stretchers department to be tested for a fool; and then where will you be, said the nurse?
There was no following that so I sent out for a camel to take me home.
When the next day came I found I was still going around in circles and eating chicken dry as a bone, and no camel.
The weather department said I was crazy and I just had to agree with them as I adjusted my beard to ward off any incoming I hadn’t thought of that I couldn’t avoid, and wondered: was it working?
Time began to slow down until it was just a rocket to the moon and eating chocolate in the town hall up against the juke box that was making sounds like the moon-walkers drinking wine in the moonlight.
I wasn’t walking straight around this time but was feeling great, as I rocked on down the street all the way to the bottom where I came up against the monster once again who grumbled to keep sending until he got home.
I had to break my whisper over this and so took out the iron hand to make things better but broke my whisper even more until I couldn’t look at it anymore and just had to get in my car and drive.
Later, when the clouds had cleared I turned around and went home, and didn’t look around for anything.

Image from me