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  • Issue 22 Fall 2021
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  • Issue 23 Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Art Spring 2022 >
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Larry O. Dean

Cowboys & Indiana


On the tollroad
toward the gassy stank of Gary,
 
past the Port of Chicago
with its sucker-punch alewives stench,
 
fumes funnel the sky, smoke
signals admonishing passersby.




The Dream

In the dream,
I am ambulance chasing with Gandhi,
which is even weirder than it sounds,
because I am not now nor have I ever been
nor would I ever want to become
a lawyer, and even the friends I've known
who were, or are, or studied to be lawyers
I had to pretend weren't, or aren't,
and watch my words around so as not
to discourage their career paths,
 
because I just don't respect the law,
the inflexibility of it, which is part of why
this dream is especially off-putting,
because if I had to be a lawyer
I wouldn't be the personal injury type,
it's so counterintuitive to what
I'm all about; but then
I take a good, hard look and realize
 
it's actually Roger Gandhi, not Mohandas,
commonly known as Mahatma, second
cousin twice removed of the preeminent
leader of Indian nationalism in British-
ruled India, who is with me,
and as I pause and squint,
aside from glasses and a mustache
he looks nothing like his famous cousin,
having a full head of bushy black hair
 
and not once smiling that enlightened
and enigmatic smile the Mahatma
is usually shown with in photographs;
in fact, he is rather dour
and out of breath, which is when
I realize we are literally chasing
ambulances, not metaphorically,
which explains the whole lawyer mis-
 
understanding but doesn't explain
why we are in hot pursuit
of a bevvy of emergency vehicles
which could very well, ironically,
injure us because we are running
in the street, chasing taillights
like cliched stray dogs as wailing sirens
fade the further away they get,
which is perfectly natural since
 
they are vehicles while we're on foot,
though, again ironically, the term
ambulance comes from the Latin word,
ambulare, meaning to walk or move about;
it is then I look sideways at Roger's face
and although it's not a race
I feel compelled to pull ahead of him
if not impelled to catch up with the rotating
red lights getting farther and farther
 
away, and I think, in his pancha,
or traditional Indian men's garment,
he must be more comfortable than I am
in a tuxedo and Crocs which,
while comfy and colorful, with each
leg extension threaten to fly off my feet
and slow me down, if not cause us
both to stumble and fall as they bounce
and tumble in the distance, electric
blue obstructions on an obstacle course,
 
but through some miracle they remain
on my feet, and I'm not complaining,
because even at a garb disadvantage
            we're neck and neck
and I'm suddenly very proud
which gives me an adrenaline rush
not unlike adding fuel to the proverbial fire;
but this is not about me,
nor is it about Roger, or even
the ambulances, it's about living
 
in the moment, which we simultaneously
arrive at as a conclusion telepathically,
since neither of us has said anything,
coming to a halt and doing that
hands-on-hips-walking-in-a-circle thing
marathon runners do upon crossing
the finish line, and I undo
my bow tie, cursing my impetuousness only briefly
because knotting one is a complicated business,
 
using it to mop my sweaty forehead
like a handkerchief because I forgot mine
on top of the bureau this morning,
cleaned and folded neatly and ready
to go, with the monogrammed initials
G-O-D in gold, not L-O-D, which I never noticed
before now, or didn't want to notice,
not because it scares or unnerves me
 
but because I like being in charge
and think maybe this is some kind of a sign,
albeit from the dry cleaners but a sign
nonetheless, if only a sign of their ineptitude,
or their business outgrowing itself
way too quickly to keep up their top-notch
fluff-and-fold service;
                                     and then I wake up.



--
Larry O. Dean was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. His numerous books include Activities of Daily Living (forthcoming, 2017), Brief Nudity (2013), Basic Cable Couplets (2012), abbrev (2011), About the Author (2011), and I Am Spam (2004). He is also an acclaimed singer-songwriter whose latest solo album is Good Grief (2015). The sophomore album from his band, The Injured Parties, is due in 2016. For more info, go to larryodean.com


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  • Home
  • About
    • Our Story
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  • Features
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  • Issue 22 Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Art Fall 2021 >
      • Bonnie Severien Fall 2021
      • Camilla Taylor Fall 2021
      • Guilherme Bergamini Fall 2021
      • Emanuela Iorga Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Poetry Fall 2021 >
      • Maureen Alsop Fall 2021
      • Annah Browning Fall 2021
      • Romana Iorga Fall 2021
      • Natalie Hampton Fall 2021
      • Sherine Gilmour Fall 2021
      • Adam Day Fall 2021
      • Amanda Auchter Fall 2021
      • Adam Tavel Fall 2021
      • Sara Moore Fall 2021
      • Karen Rigby Fall 2021
      • Daniel Zhang Fall 2021
      • Erika Lutzner Fall 2021
      • Kindall Fredricks Fall 2021
      • Cin Salach Fall 2021
      • Andrew Zawacki Fall 2021
      • Micah Ruelle Fall 2021
      • Rachel Stempel Fall 2021
      • Haley Wooning Fall 2021
      • Rikki Santer Fall 2021
      • Evy Shen Fall 2021
      • Suzanne Frischkorn Fall 2021
      • Danielle Rose Fall 2021
      • Eric Burgoyne Fall 2021
      • John Cullen Fall 2021
      • Maureen Seaton Fall 2021
      • Hannah Stephens Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Nonfiction Fall 2021 >
      • Kevin Grauke Fall 2021
      • Courtney Justus Fall 2021
      • Amy Nicholson Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Fiction Fall 2021 >
      • Tina Jenkins Bell Fall 2021
      • David Obuchowski Fall 2021
      • Thomas Misuraca Fall 2021
      • Aiden Baker Fall 2021
      • Jenny Magnus Fall 2021
  • Issue 23 Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Art Spring 2022 >
      • Jonathan Kvassay Spring 2022
      • Karyna McGlynn Spring 2022
      • Andrea Kowch Spring 2022
      • Layla Garcia-Torres Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Poetry Spring 2022 >
      • Robin Gow Spring 2022
      • T.D. Walker Spring 2022
      • Jen Schalliol Huang Spring 2022
      • Yvonne Zipter Spring 2022
      • Carrie McGath Spring 2022
      • Lupita Eyde-Tucker Spring 2022
      • Susan L. Leary Spring 2022
      • Kate Sweeney Spring 2022
      • Rita Mookerjee Spring 2022
      • Erin Carlyle Spring 2022
      • Cori Bratty-Rudd Spring 2022
      • Jen Karetnick Spring 2022
      • Meghan Sterling Spring 2022
      • Lorelei Bacht Spring 2022
      • Michael Passafiume Spring 2022
      • Jeannine Hall Gailey Spring 2022
      • Phil Goldstein Spring 2022
      • Michael Mingo Spring 2022
      • Angie Macri Spring 2022
      • Martha Silano Spring 2022
      • Vismai Rao Spring 2022
      • Anna Laura Reeve Spring 2022
      • Jenny Irish Spring 2022
      • Marek Kulig Spring 2022
      • Jami Macarty Spring 2022
      • Sarah A. Rae Spring 2022
      • Brittney Corrigan Spring 2022
      • Callista Buchen Spring 2022
      • Issam Zineh Spring 2022
      • MICHAEL CHANG Spring 2022
      • henry 7. reneau, jr. Spring 2022
      • Leah Umansky Spring 2022
      • Cody Beck Spring 2022
      • Danyal Kim Spring 2022
      • Rachel DeWoskin Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Fiction Spring 2022 >
      • Melissa Boberg Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Nonfiction Spring 2022 >
      • Srinaath Perangur Spring 2022
      • Audrey T. Carroll Spring 2022
  • Issue #24 Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Art Fall 2022 >
      • Marsha Solomon Fall 2022
      • Edward Lee Fall 2022
      • Harryette Mullen Fall 2022
      • Jezzelle Kellam Fall 2022
      • Irina Greciuhina Fall 2022
      • Natalie Christensen Fall 2022
      • Mark Yale Harris Fall 2022
      • Amy Nelder Fall 2022
      • Bette Ridgeway Fall 2022
      • Ursula Sokolowska Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Poetry Fall 2022 >
      • William Stobb Fall 2022
      • e Fall 2022
      • Stefanie Kirby Fall 2022
      • Lisa Ampleman Fall 2022
      • Will Cordeiro Fall 2022
      • Jesica Davis Fall 2022
      • Peter O'Donovan Fall 2022
      • Mackenzie Carignan Fall 2022
      • Jason Fraley Fall 2022
      • Barbara Saunier Fall 2022
      • Chad Weeden Fall 2022
      • Nick Rattner Fall 2022
      • Cynthia Schwartzberg Edlow Fall 2022
      • Summer J. Hart Fall 2022
      • Daniel Suá​rez Fall 2022
      • Sara Kearns Fall 2022
      • Millicent Borges Accardi Fall 2022
      • Liz Robbins Fall 2022
      • john compton Fall 2022
      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2022
      • Whitney Koo Fall 2022
      • W. J. Lofton Fall 2022
      • Rachel Reynolds Fall 2022
      • Kimberly Ann Priest Fall 2022
      • Annie Przypyszny Fall 2022
      • Konstantin Kulakov Fall 2022
      • Nellie Cox Fall 2022
      • Jennifer Martelli Fall 2022
      • SM Stubbs Fall 2022
      • Joshua Bird Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Fiction Fall 2022 >
      • Otis Fuqua Fall 2022
      • Hannah Harlow Fall 2022
      • Natalia Nebel Fall 2022
      • Kate Maxwell Fall 2022
      • Helena Pantsis Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Nonfiction Fall 2022 >
      • Courtney Ludwick Fall 2022
      • Anna Oberg Fall 2022
      • Acadia Currah Fall 2022