An Uncollected Bagatelle

In 1981, Ron Kolm edited an anthology of writing and visual art called The Low-Tech Manual. In it he included three outtakes from “Bagatelles.” Two of them were eventually rewritten and worked into “Dirty Windows,” one of the sequences in the book, but this one never found its way into anything else of mine.

I’ll be the mother and you’ll be the baby, she said. You’re always the mother, I said, why can’t I be the mother for a change. It wouldn’t work, she said, it would lack authenticity. Then let me be the father, I said. That’s impossible, she said. Why is it impossible, I said. Because that would entail creating a whole new category, she said.

At the Ball Game [a Mr. Deadman Outtake]

Mr. Deadman goes to a ball game, a baseball game.  Mr. Deadman goes to Yankee Stadium, to see the Yankees, the New York Yankees.  It’s a beautiful, sunny day, a beautiful day for a ball game.  Sunny, cloudy, it’s all the same to Mr. Deadman.   Still, it’s a beautiful day.

“Hot dogs!  Hot dogs here!” a hot dog guy yells, working his way through the stands.  And Mr. Deadman yells back, in a bellow that would rouse the living, “Over here, guy.”  Mr. Deadman buys a hot dog from the guy, a hot dog with mustard and onions.  Mr. Deadman loves hot dogs.  Mr. Deadman stuffs his face full of hot dog and he’s happy.  It’s a beautiful day for a ball game, and it’s great to be dead.

As far as the game is concerned, Mr. Deadman can’t tell you very much about that.  He isn’t really paying attention, you see.  Mr. Deadman doesn’t even know who the other team is.  Mr. Deadman isn’t watching the game, you see; he’s daydreaming.  Mr. Deadman is daydreaming of great Yankees of the past.  Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio.  Great dead Yankees.

 

 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

I’m offering 6 advance copies of Lift Your Right Arm to Goodreads users. The deadline to enter is March 7. The info is here: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/45246-lift-your-right-arm