Thursday, May 19, 2011

CEMENTED

She cleared her throat.  Clearing it a couple of times didn't seem to make him stir.  Neither of them could exactly stir.  She cleared her throat several more times.  Words were again heard coming from her.  Silent for a period or so.  A period.  Or so. 

Woman: Have you fallen asleep over there?

The man did not respond.  It was hard to tell if he was awake.  He stood a distance from the woman.  It looked like his eyes were open.  His face had a droopy look about it.

Woman: Hey.  Hey! 

The man's eyes widened and the rest of his body shook.  Except for his feet. 

Woman: You are still here.  Still here with me.  Have you dropped off your guard?

The man moved his mouth and then his neck.  He cleared his throat several times.

Woman: Sounds like the man hasn't cleaned the cave recently.  Hasn't rid the passageway of debris.  How does the man breathe?  The man hasn't rid himself of the debris, but the man sure has rid himself of speaking up.  Rid himself of being clear.  Rid himself of a path.  Himself.  The man.  He has rid himself of that other thing.  Let the woman think of it.  Since the man has rid himself of all that stuff including the thing that eludes the woman at the moment.  Eludes the woman like all the so-called physical laws that surround the woman.  Surround the woman, but elude the woman.  The laws escape with the wind and drown in the sea.  Let the woman think of it.  Think of it.  It will come to the woman eventually.  It only surrounds and wraps around the woman.  But somehow it evades the woman's yearning for consideration.  Evades the woman incessantly like flood waters that keep rising in a win lose win lose lose lose lose.  The woman's fabric of sense is flooded red in her head in her head under and through her bed.  Flooding and evading her grasp.  Give the woman a moment.  It'll come to her.  Give the woman enough time.  The man won't.  The man's impatience super seeds more laws that will follow to their perpetual maintenance.  Perpetual maintenance that will perpetually elude the woman.  The woman will stand as she does now with outstretched fingers trying to grasp.  Yearning to get a hold of.  The other thing.  One tiny thing.  So elusive.  All right.  The woman gives up.  Just tell the woman what it is.  The man's description.  It's in the man's description to tell.  To tell the woman eventually what it is.  It's a law.  A law that eludes and outpaces as the man and the woman stand still.  Standing still because their feet don't move.  When did they stop?  When did our feet stop moving?  Clear your throat again.

The man clears his throat yet again.

Woman: Speak.  Want to hear something.
Man: W-w-what?
Woman: There.
Man: There what?
Woman: There now.
Man: When is now?
Woman: The woman doesn't know.  No longer know.  Hoping the man might have an idea when is now.
Man: When is now.
Woman: Yes. See what the man comes up with.
Man: Come up with.
Woman: For crapsakes! Has the man fallen so much off his guard that he's been replaced with artificial intelligence?  Really faulty artifical intelligence.
Man: Really?
Woman: Yes, really. Is the man real?
Man: Not really.
Woman: The woman didn't think so.
Man: Not really sure.
Woman: Oh, not really sure.  And exactly what is the man waiting for to help him make a determination one way or the other?
Man: Waiting.
Woman: Putting the woman off.  That's for certain.  Putting the woman off in more ways than one.  Putting off and turning off.  Shutting off.
Man: Shutting off?
Woman: Been doing that since before the feet got stuck.  Before the woman's feet sank down and before the man's feet sank into this surface.
Man: Surface of . . .
Woman: Yes, surface of . . .
Man: Surface of the yard.
Woman: Yard?  The woman guesses that the man could say that.
Man: Yard.  Court.
Woman: Court?  What court?
Man: Court.  Yard. 
Woman: Courtyard.  Now come to think of it, it does look like the courtyard of some . . . some . . .
Man: Thing.  Some.  Thing.
Woman:  Some place.
Man: Place.  Thing.  With.
Woman: With?
Man: Up with.
Woman: Up?
Man: Come up with.
Woman: Oh, see what the man come up with.
Man: Yes, see.  See.  Up.  Looking up.  See a lot of with.  Large shapes making one large shape of shapes.  Looking down.  Feet no longer move.
Woman: Man manages to stay ahead and yet is so slow and what the man comes up with.  The man.  So slow.  The laws.  So fast. 
Man: Never seen mother.
Woman: Is that it finally?  The man hasn't seen his mother?
Man: Never seen a mother.  Never seen a mother become the trees.  Never seen a mother become the grass.  Never seen a mother become building blocks.  The story book says so.  The man says and sees that it isn't so.  Never seen a mother become large shapes making a large shape of shapes.
Woman: A mother complex.  The man has a mother complex.  The man is blaming his machine parts on a mother complex. 
Man: Never seen a mother become the ground.  The ground beneath the woman and the man.  Beneath the man and woman's feet.  Their feet that no longer move.  With meaningless statements passing between them. 


- Max Stoltenberg

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