A Cellarful of Nose - Future Shoes

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Please let me know if this means my letter will definitely not be published. Sincerely, etc.... Michael Finley 178
Black and proud There must be something wrong with me, because when I got my census form last week, I dutifully filled it out. That is, until I came to the section on race. On an impulse, I said that our entire family was black. We aren't. One look in the mirror confirms that. We are white as sheets, off-white sheets anyway, all four of us. But I marked us black, perhaps committing a felony in the process. I can't tell you what the No. 1 reason was. But I had my reasons, and I will list them here, in no particular order: 1. First, the question bugged me. What do we say about ourselves when we check off a box like that? If you know nothing about me except that I'm white, or that I'm black, how does that help you understand me? In fact, doesn't it have the opposite effect -- painting me with vague, sweeping generalities that may or may not be true? 2. I did it out of old-fashioned liberalism, a hard habit to break. My understanding is that the census exists primarily to count citizens so that congressional districts may be accurately apportioned. What our color has to do with congressional district apportionment is, again, a mystery. But minorities get undercounted in the census, and are thus underserved in government outlays. So I thought I'd counterbalance an uncounted black family with our family. Sure, this means fewer benefits for my race, but I figured, hey, white people had a good year. 3. I always wanted to be black, like in the Lou Reed song. 179
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to Jon, in whom I am well pleased 3
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Table of Contents A Melting Pot....
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George.............................
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The Blue Bicycle...................
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My father told my mother that her m
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Guatemaltecan Prayers Midnight in t
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uilt the fabled cities of Tikal, Ua
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In the 1960s the government finally
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The Indian people living in the jun
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It is dark, the jungle has quieted
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farmers, scouring the fisherman's r
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Burke, a "townie" in Wooster, Ohio
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Let me jump forward to a great misu
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made it right. It was a snap to cha
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miles. An invigorating thing to do
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physically irritating, intellectual
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in the right way for the 20 year ol
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ones. I was very depressed when the
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for us. I would spend the day playi
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y February we were in love, with on
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The Late Great Franklin Ace The oth
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doesn't want 'em. I don’t think e
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eeze instead of theirs, then lying
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city of Worthington. Like our city,
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But it was not a matter of amusemen
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however, as the bus groaned uphill,
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dark when we pulled into Rio Dulce,
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It didn't need a name. It was The T
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All winter you doubted. You survive
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RATTLESNAKES ARE COMMON IN THIS ARE
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the umpire calls a strike. "Most yo
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The kids mumbled as they got their
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departure from this formula is a ma
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Rachel and I were more conventional
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All of these perceptions are misogy
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- an ancient technique to help man
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virtually nonstop through the durat
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conspiratorially that I had no proo
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Rachel gained weight. I did too. Wi
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Watching the monitor on the ultraso
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I told her how betrayed we felt, an
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eceiver down, and grumbling remaneu
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and carrot soup. I was never so pro
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Piece of Thanksgiving Pie This is f
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umper and lift you up and get you g
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not for himself but for a sweet fri
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A Mending Tree I did not get to see
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In a normal picture of this system,
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I started all this with book I want
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Canine Wisdom "Hey dad," my daughte
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And now look at you, with your brok
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eaks their spirit, and the universe
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that, somehow, God had a special fe
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eal thing, obsessions and compulsio
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"But you're doing real good, Sid. Y
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Together at Last The other day I co
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I never found my sister. But it com
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The difference between the unelectr
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The Pears of Cupertino In the summe
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insufferable. Artie and Liz correct
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acktracking. The dog wants me to ch
Page 127 and 128: It was the look I saw in Beauregard
Page 129 and 130: portrait of the comic ads. The exer
Page 131 and 132: Bing Cherries No sooner do I push m
Page 133 and 134: We can come back later when you're
Page 135 and 136: Star Trek. One blast from the Genes
Page 137 and 138: tyrannical now, will be really impo
Page 139 and 140: But even there, among devoted Mario
Page 141 and 142: Paula Kelly Rachel and I drank wine
Page 143 and 144: had a talk with her while she poope
Page 145 and 146: the stroke, I was still having a di
Page 147 and 148: old friend, I drove home in silence
Page 149 and 150: In my gravy days I was able to hear
Page 151 and 152: Reading about the early surgeons ha
Page 153 and 154: Roosevelt's. Wood was about to be n
Page 155 and 156: was thinking. I would be blessed, i
Page 157 and 158: witnessing something unnatural - th
Page 159 and 160: farmers get used to their wives.' '
Page 161 and 162: schoolwork, helping around the hous
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Page 165 and 166: ed wine, and the breast of the risi
Page 167 and 168: So I took a deep breath and decided
Page 169 and 170: doesn't let up until we are jolted
Page 171 and 172: her scope for a while now, taking n
Page 173 and 174: I am dejected. If she thinks I am a
Page 175 and 176: Correspondence with an Autoresponde
Page 177: decency. And when I lay my heart ou
Page 181 and 182: to her. If that doesn't make us Afr
Page 183 and 184: [Pause to explain to readers The Po
Page 185 and 186: So we're limping back to the car, h
Page 187 and 188: I mean, I really do love the fall.
Page 189 and 190: eye, sized me up and said, "You kno
Page 191 and 192: sides. So one evening I bundle my s
Page 193 and 194: Go Deep A while back Michael Kinsle
Page 195 and 196: and a ticking mantle clock, a month
Page 197 and 198: They opened a single folio sheet, t
Page 199 and 200: with questions about my family and
Page 201 and 202: een touched before. A kind of sulle
Page 203 and 204: ordinary men. Which brings us to ou
Page 205 and 206: sobering thought, implying severanc
Page 207 and 208: man in Hardin's song. I yearned for
Page 209 and 210: was smart and serious about paintin
Page 211 and 212: girl, and having a daughter in 1984
Page 213 and 214: "What happened?" I asked. "The plan
Page 215 and 216: "I was always your friend," I said
Page 217 and 218: Inside the Canine Head Every dog ow
Page 219 and 220: to me. I pretended I was waiting fo
Page 221 and 222: I Met Charles Manson (I Think) One
Page 223 and 224: ailroad arrived every day with thre
Page 225 and 226: Dave had a spy-glass, and he identi
Page 227 and 228: was this enormous, blonde-haired ma
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ocks forever ... The rocks are our
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We are not happy wanderers toting b
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• Of the self-centeredness. • O
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Empty Places Remembering Paul Gruch
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Another photographer, Mark Luinenbu
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He could be highbrow. He quoted Cha
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Paul didn’t wow everybody. He pla
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coming years. He was the closest th
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Quitting Northfield in 1996, Paul a
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exceptional writer. It also contrib
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me and said, ‘Steve, we should ne
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writings indicate that not all was
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no slam-dunks on the list. Paul’s
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Berryman died at 57, Gruchow at 56,
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against the prow. The boy is smilin
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trembling, grieve at the permanence
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he seems sharp enough in other ways
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pleasant and surprising successes)
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The facial expression: extreme pite
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of our footsteps in the dark, and t
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egan pulling out stomach, intestine
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Rosie's Place The cafe was a mainst
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saying was: Love me the way I am, t
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I remember walking home from high s
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But to really make it happen I need
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through your mind for a few days. L
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whenever I say something public. I
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that, and the other thing. Hallelui
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'The Skin Over a Young Girl's Wrist
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That if I stepped out of my body I
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I didn't, praise god. Even I was ca
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The Pickwick The Pickwick Bookshop
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The manager of the store was a mutt
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Tusk Town In high school Jeremy Mul
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The mock riot was a bonding baptism
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The Second Section were ordinary fe
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Jeremy, one of the group leaped to
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'The Unnatural' It was the damnedes
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He was once attacked in the outfiel
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Gee Whiz Beau and I are visiting th
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might learn for the future. And I d
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and it was a great way to meet new
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fellow radicals carrying placards (
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The Last Turkey It happens that tod
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much detail about, as it is an area
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Driving to Amherst It's 4:14 AM the
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everyone looking at you? Not a day
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She could no imagine no greater dis
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Two Onetime Poets Two onetime poets
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Let’s Play: Celebrity Brain Tumor
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My meningioma is the least horrible
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able to recruit a spokesperson for
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Saluting the Army Corps of Engineer
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clouds. I was by the riverbank, and
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J. F. Powers Morte d’Urban This i
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off, I did a search and replace, an
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I have not been to a mass in 30 yea
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"Possibly," said the bank office. "
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implements. Wheelbarrows, fertilize
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electric seat warmers and pink poof
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terrified of this tiny representati
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mean pig. The cinderblock chin that
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He looked up at me and our eyes rea
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enough nourishment from her blood,
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schoolday for a year and a half, un
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oth the Catholic and public schools
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my tears running in greasy streaks
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the prairie. And I thought that ent
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isolated farmers who see their daug
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the paper - and some of it was awfu
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years in Stillwater Penitentiary. I
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and sang, and ate cake afterward. O
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My Feud By the time I was in my twe
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over to my side, overthrow the czar
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grief - the pain I still felt from
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All Valentines Eve It was the night
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"The reason poets don't write love
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all the violence he has in him, and
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hear Dirk tell the tale, this man c
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People can have very unusual reacti
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people all the time. There's only s
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Maxims for Marriage I was very flat
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football plays. But don't smile, be
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We were so fair and cherry-cheeked.
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I had run out of things to say, and
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I always have thought I was a prett
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incredible story of the bold burgla
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John Henry During spring cleaning,
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The book was a long ordeal of toil,
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A Narrative Poem for Michael Finley
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Your wickedness being dispersed You
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And trunks don't have floorboards W
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Crow." I must tell you that I had n
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The Giant Dirtball The other day I
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corralling a billion eyeballs and s
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underground resistance to the bigne
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I had come across it a few days ear
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Every falling leaf covered it up in
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needed doing - rake trails, tell vi
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health, I told her, and it was quit
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The Christmas Lion I was at church,
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that there would be "honey in the h
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could lie down with the lamb, but t
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A Rose in December Sometimes the fu
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me by this moment. That this wouldn
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The Coach's Daughter The coach love
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all is flying out of there. "It was
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in with them. To her consternation,
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glory of song. (2004) 445
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idea of being kicked out of her hom
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un-evicted.” “Hi dad,” she sa
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The Return of the Runaway Bunny In
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alone, to be away from you, this is
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When We Were Beautiful I have notic
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Generation, so sleek and so bell-bo
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None of the fissures had formed, no
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So it was a problem for me when I g
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meanings of this symbol and that, a
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cantankerous Norwegian self. He was
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around to read his work, and I cove
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Frank Brainerd succumbed to leukemi
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writing, which is how I fed my fami
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Against Heartbreak Heartbreak is th
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heart is broken that God never thro
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mind when a greater part of you, yo
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Self-pity gets a bad name in our cu
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of life. Even at its most excruciat
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“The Lord giveth and the lord tak
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Imagine, if you thought your most p
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Kraken Press 1841 Dayton Avenue Sai
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