Some things that are yellow
ray heinrich
Legal notepads all written over with notes
for some class on torts and lots of funny
squiggles: all hands and noses busy thinking
into thought-clouds filled with obscenities.
A picture of a painting of a dandelion
growing right in the middle of a sidewalk
in new york city somewhere on 79th street
if you can believe someone writing about
a picture of a painting of a flower that
has a street sign that says 79th street.
Old newspapers beginning with the bicentennial
in 1976 and stacked in neat ceiling-high piles
making little paths that lead from the desk to
the bed to the fridge to the toilet.
A tiny little spider between the aluminum
foil and the window that wonders why it
gets so HOT in the afternoon but not for
long cause she has to get back to looking
for tiny little roaches to catch so she
can afford to have that big family she's
been planning for whenever she's not
wondering about the heat or busy looking
for tiny little roaches.
That particular spot on the carpet that
my dog sniffs every time he goes by except
when the ice cream man arrives by playing an
awful recording of a music box playing a tune
from some 50's musical in which case he leaps
up running and bounces off the pile of newspapers
where the path makes a sharp right turn in an
effort to get to the front door in time to bark
for 5 minutes if no one comes out to buy ice cream
and for 10 minutes if they do but when he comes
back he always stops to sniff that particular spot
on the carpet before curling up under my desk again.
Light bulbs that never burn out sold over-the-phone
by disabled vets that turn out to have been
manufactured in hungary just before the unification
of germany and that also turn out to not produce
much light either but are handy for warming your
hands when you're typing in winter.
