when i was little, there was a certain cripple that lived in town. whenever my mom and i would go for a grocery run, we would inevitably see him somewhere - he was very tall and thin, with sort of a bald dome, and grey hair over his ears. he wore silver-framed, spectacle type glasses and actually, i think he was rather handsome.
here's the thing. he had some sort of condition that caused his spine to arch up and back, so literally, as he walked, he faced the sky. i don't know how he did it - can you imagine? if you think you can, try it - walk around your living room with your face turned upwards towards the ceiling, and see if you can make it past your couch to get a glass of water from the kitchen.
anyhow, i thought of him yesterday, and i haven't thought of him in some 20+ years. i wish i could find out who he was, what happened to him, where he was from, how he ended up in our dinky little town walking through a park being ogled by some little twerp out the window of her mom's '84 toyota camry. i want to know if he's alive so i can go and plant a kiss on his cheek, and if he's dead, where do i have to go to place some daisies and stand at his grave?
i tried to find a picture good enough for this...despair, and this is what i came up with: sometime last year, the female (Ida) of the polar bear couple at the Central Park Zoo died. in her absence, after 25 long, presumably happy years together, her mate (Gus) became noticeably dejected and despondent, and then took to swimming endless laps in the pool - back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, ad infinitum! i didn't know this when i visited, and i wondered then what kind of horrific, dumb life that polar bear led, swimming back and forth in that glass pond all day, people peering in on every single side...i didn't know it until this very day, when it finally hit me - ALL that fucking polar bear wanted was to be left alone, but there was just. nowhere. to go.
i think about how much sky that man saw, the tree tops, the sun..............and then think about HOW MUCH of straight up NOTHING the rest of us see, even when we're just staring. straight into each others' faces.
here's the thing. he had some sort of condition that caused his spine to arch up and back, so literally, as he walked, he faced the sky. i don't know how he did it - can you imagine? if you think you can, try it - walk around your living room with your face turned upwards towards the ceiling, and see if you can make it past your couch to get a glass of water from the kitchen.
anyhow, i thought of him yesterday, and i haven't thought of him in some 20+ years. i wish i could find out who he was, what happened to him, where he was from, how he ended up in our dinky little town walking through a park being ogled by some little twerp out the window of her mom's '84 toyota camry. i want to know if he's alive so i can go and plant a kiss on his cheek, and if he's dead, where do i have to go to place some daisies and stand at his grave?
i tried to find a picture good enough for this...despair, and this is what i came up with: sometime last year, the female (Ida) of the polar bear couple at the Central Park Zoo died. in her absence, after 25 long, presumably happy years together, her mate (Gus) became noticeably dejected and despondent, and then took to swimming endless laps in the pool - back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, ad infinitum! i didn't know this when i visited, and i wondered then what kind of horrific, dumb life that polar bear led, swimming back and forth in that glass pond all day, people peering in on every single side...i didn't know it until this very day, when it finally hit me - ALL that fucking polar bear wanted was to be left alone, but there was just. nowhere. to go.
i think about how much sky that man saw, the tree tops, the sun..............and then think about HOW MUCH of straight up NOTHING the rest of us see, even when we're just staring. straight into each others' faces.
