Idyll

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An old piece, while in the military.....in Zweibrucken, Germany.....published in Stars and Stripes, Puptent Poets, Sept. 15, 1964.....

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(Base USO club, Zweibrucken, Germany, 1963)

Of a lazy afternoon, I sit
     propped up,
Bones aching, sorely tired from
     lack of work,
And dutifully read the comic
     strips
With bored eyes while my mind
     dozes.

I sit enveloped in my peculiar
Grayish pallor, which clings
And will not disappear,
And martyr myself to the gods
     of convention.

I smoke acrid-tasting cigarettes and
Loudly chew a cud of gum, popping it
Absent-mindedly, and I turn the
     crinkly sounding
Pages, one after one, slowly
     and intently,
So as not to disarrange the sheaf.

The dryish smell of printed
     comic strips
Irritates my nose, but I don't
     sneeze --
Merely wriggle it a bit for some
     relief.

My brightly polished shoes are propped
Upon the table and I lean back and tilt
     the chair, and my hair
Is closely cropped and combed with care,
     no strand
Out of place, pomaded and arranged.

My clothes are neat and clean
     and stylish
And I brush away a nonexistent
     crumb and
I slowly chew and loudly pop my gum,

Moisten index finger, moisten thumb,
And turn the colored printed page
     of comics,
Snicker at the antics pictured
While I glance about.

     And wonder.

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