November 9, 1998 the old man at night sits on the wornout armchair to watch the moon reflected on the black & white TV screen he sits & stares the lonely desolate place full of extinct craters February 27, 1999 the old man in black sits and waits by the deserted railroad station holding a plastic bag full of smoke & dreams heavier than led the old man sits & waits time passes with gray poisonous dust filling the sky slowly the old man gets up forgetting the bag at the station his feet dragging along the side of the tracks suddenly a train appears filling the old man with a smoke cloud the train & the old man disappear March 17, 1999 the old man says when I was young one summer night I saw a spider weaving an amazing engineered silver web under radiating electric light when I was younger I saw the running lizard suddenly stop in quick freeze motion vanishing through ancient limestone walls when I was even younger I saw wild horses on clouds galloping over the open sky projected from glass slides through the magic lantern bombs shattered the glass filling my eyes with shocking vision the sky covered with darkness now I watch kinescope reruns on TV as the irreplaceable tubes are burning out |