Saturday, January 23, 2016

it felt strange


by chuck leary

illustrations by eddie el greco





walking on the sidewalk
with the others still trapped in the truck
megan wanted to take her chances
but i felt a great sense of relief

at the newsstand on the corner
there were a lot of pictures of frank but no papers
ernie was not even there
i guess he was not too worried

i went up to joe’s room
his old telephone was still there
the one that looked like a banana
i was tempted, but left everything the way i found it

in the office
i crawled across the floor
and got my pants back on
everybody acted like they didn’t notice

someday i will go back to the hotel
and this time go up the stairs
very carefully because you never know who is waiting



Friday, January 22, 2016

adam and beth - version 32211-44241-23312-21431-41441-4






adam was an asshole

he dreamed of being able to have sex with any woman in the world

his favorite book was the bible

his favorite movie was 2001 - a space odyssey

his favorite food was colonel sanders fried chicken

his favorite music was g g allin


beth was a poet and a dreamer

she dreamed of winning the nobel prize for literature

her favorite book was the scum manifesto

her favorite movie was titanic

her favorite food was godiva chocolates

her favorite music was vivaldi

adam and beth met when adam stepped on beth’s foot on the subway

they immediately despised each other

the next day adam went to dunkin donuts and bought a large decaf and a raspberry danish

the next day beth got on a bus to cleveland

adam’s mom called adam as she did every day

beth’s mom went for a walk in the woods

the police asked the public for information

the media covered it up

public opinion blamed the media

years later the case was forgotten

when adam got out of prison he married a woman who had written to him in prison

beth went her own way

adam and beth met again at a mcdonalds in times square

in the end the stars looked down and laughed