Fear and Loathing at the Typewriter (For Dr. Gonzo)

I was just outside Barstow when the poem started
taking affect---I was traveling with my attorney
an evil dwarf who sometimes sits on my shoulder as
I write---he leans over and reads the last line.
“Give me more drugs”, he screams----
“Look at that last line,” I cry in ecstasy.
No, no I can’t. . .
“Why?”
“The letters---look---the S’s are turning to snakes”.
I pulled the typewriter over to the side & stared at the letters.
I saw it clearly—the S’s had ganged up on the T’s.
“What should I do doctor?”
My evil dwarf grabbed the typewriter
turned it upside down & shook it.
“Look now,” he screamed.
“No, its no good,” I cried, the S’s are beginning to strangle the L’s.
My attorney & my doctor ripped open a sealed envelope
marked “EMERGENCIES”
He pushed a handful of yellow red & purple capsules into my mouth.
“Swallow these before it is too late,” he stuffed the rest into his mouth.

We sit for hours, maybe days
I can’t be sure.
Staring at the paper as it turns red.
The letters, however, mostly turned white except M’s
& N’s who gather in the upper corner & begin to glow.
My evil dwarf sweats profusely
searching for meanings in the letters.
He mumbles about priests & whores.
I scream into his ear:
“What do you think doctor?”
“The worst is over” he said, slipping
the barrel of the Browning
Pistol into his mouth.

 

Steve De France

Steve De France is a widely published poet, playwright and essayist both in America and in Great Britain. In England he won a Reader's Award in Orbis Magazine for his poem "Hawks." In the United States he won the Josh Samuels' Annual Poetry Competition (2003) for his poem: "The Man Who Loved Mermaids." His play THE KILLER had it’s world premier at the GARAGE THEATRE in Long Beach, California (Sept-October 2006). He has received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Chapman University for his writing. Most recently his poem “Gregor’s Wings” has been nominated for The Best of The Net by Poetic Diversity.