In Tacoma, at the apocryphal corner
of Brautigan and Herbert Streets,
you may hear worms singing plaintive blues.
Turn on, tune in, drop out:
what bullshit. Nothing's that
sequential in T-Town, and Dr. Leary
was Ownership, not Labor or
Management.
It's a long way from San Francisco,
especially by dune buggy on back roads,
through the mind-fields.
Call yourself a duchess, call yourself
a duke. Nobody really gives a shit
unless you buy a round of beers
and feed the pool table. Seven-ball
in the Montana pocket off
the Portrero Hill rail. You
have to call it first.
Gore Vidal was stationed near Tacoma,
but wrote over the episode
while serving his celebrity in Italy.
Shit can get complicated real fast
is the theme of every novel,
every life.
hans ostrom 2015
