Torrents of Words

I've been hurling words, dangling participles/split infinitives/transitive and passive voice abominations for over seventeen years. If you've been reading them, it probably feels a lot longer. Ouch! 

My bruised and battered feelings aside, I can write for the next seventeen years and never approach the brilliance of this. Enjoy.

“The Way It Works” by Charles Bukowski

she came out at 9:30 a.m. in the morning

and knocked at the manager's door:

"my husband is dead!"

they went to the back of the building together

and the process began:

first the fire dept. sent two men

in dark shirts and pants

in vehicle #27

and the manager and the lady and the

two men went inside as she

sobbed.

he had knifed her last April and

had done 6 months for that.

the two men in dark shirts came out

got in their vehicle

and drove away.

then two policemen came.

then a doctor (he probably was there to

sign the death certificate).

I became tired of looking out the

window and began to

read the latest issue of

The New Yorker.

when I looked again there was a nice

sensitive-looking gray-haired gentleman

walking slowly up and down the

sidewalk in a dark suit.

then he waved in a black

hearse which

drove right up on the lawn and stopped

next to my porch.

two men got out of the hearse

opened up the back

and pulled out a gurney with 4

wheels. they rolled it to the back of the

building. when they came out again he was in a

black zipper bag and she was in

obvious distress.

they put him in the

hearse and then walked back to

her apartment and went inside

again.

I had to take out my laundry and

run some other errands.

Linda was coming to visit and

I was worried about her seeing that

hearse parked next to my porch.

so I left a note pinned to my door

that said: Linda, don't worry.

I'm ok. and

then I took my dirty laundry to my car and

drove away.

when I got back the hearse was gone and

Linda hadn't arrived yet.

I took the note from the door and

went inside.

well, I thought, that old guy in back

he was about my age and

we saw each other every day but

we never spoke to one another.

now we wouldn't have to.

If you learned to read for no other reason but to read this, be glad you did.
-bill kenny