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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book... “Monsters” Down in the Dirt, v151 (the November 2017 Issue) You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

Order this writing in the book On a Rainy Day (the 2017 poetry, longer prose & art collection anthology)		get the 298 page poem, longer prose & art collection anthology as a 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Order this writing in the issue book the Light in the Sky the Down in the Dirt Sept.-Dec. 2017 collection book		get the 418 page May-August 2017 Down in the Dirt issue anthology 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

At Sixteen in Nineteen-Seventy

Ben Rasnic

and still living
with my parents,
a few friends would drop by
to preview the latest Sabbath,
Hendrix or Zeppelin release
spun at 33 rpms on my Garrard
turntable wired to a 120 watts per channel
Kenwood amp feeding Pioneer CS-53 speakers
always with the lights out, excepting
the black light illuminating
psychedelic posters illustrated
by Peter Max and Andy Warhol.

And as was our nature, we
would grow bored
until someone whipped out a baggy
full of weed from his sock
which drew all eyes fixed like magnets;
like moths to a porch light
or flies to a fresh cow pile;

and on cue, I would roll up a towel
and tamp it beneath my bedroom door
until the room had become
as air tight as possible.
Then we would toke a few bowls,
coughing & wheezing;
the smiles on our faces
dilating as large as the pupils
bathed in our bloodshot eyes;
the music throbbing louder
and clearer; the black light images
animated & playing with our minds
until time dissolved into a blur

or the music abruptly stopped
as my friends were now filing
down the narrow hallway
& out the door to return home,
to which my mother would remark
“You know I really like the music
you kids listen to & I’m glad that
you all are having a good time
but I wish you would quit smoking
those nasty cigarettes.
The smell has even been seeping
into the bath towels!”

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