Run Weird Like Ducks on Dry Land
6 pm. Back broken, soul on the verge, and scorched from the hell-bent angle of the sun. Gate shut, the lumber yard is a hollow skeleton, and I’m gassed out.
Burnt confusion, after 12-hours of strain, lumbar pain, and in two weeks at the razor thin end of scrapin’ by; with a drenched liver, bleary eyes, wide panties from standing and humping one-night that I don’t remember, circling the drain, the pay-check and relief hit again.
I didn’t want to hear nothin’ and walked a bulls-eye stalk, straight to the truck. Marty, he’s rotund twerp, calls out, ‘did you lock up the yard?’
‘Better double check it!’ I shout, and screech out, blasting for the interstate. On the peel, I spew, ‘You got eyes, idiot! Choose health! Walk and inspect the gate, yourself!’
At the beach, when I arrive, the water and sky converge, impressively sleek – crisp, bright, and the horizon line is magnificent, the blaze of eternity on the other side.
‘Just in time,’ Sheezer hands me a beer, ‘swell’s ‘bout to pump a stellar whomp.’
Ditch the work wear and tie tight trunks to the waist, slide on flippers and run weird like ducks on dry land. Plunge in the water, you’ll move like a dolphin-monk.
Swim hard. The shoreline smashes neck-breakers, and you gotta deep-dive to survive in the swell sets, like life, that keeps on coming. Keep your head above water, get in position, feel the pull, the rise, and when the swell lifts and the wave rushes forward like sling-shot speed, shoot your arm to glide a tube ride like pelican wings in an off-shore breeze.
Life’s rough, dreams are fragile, the day fades into night. A full bloom moon emerges and watches over the final sets that carry us in. The last rolls, the final swallows and cleanse of green-room barrels.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nicholas Viglietti is a writer from Sacramento, CA. After Katrina ravaged the gulf coast, he rebuilt homes there for 2 years. Up in Mon-tucky, he cut trails in the wilderness. He pedaled from Sac-town to S.D. He’s a seventh-life party-hack, attempting to rip chill lines in the madness.
Website: www.clipsfromtheclose-out.com
Insta – @nico_chillietti
X – @nviglietti0
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Images: Mani.itnet; Running duck in kallar.jpg
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