marel trout

july 5

hello everybody this here is snooples!

it is 3 a.m. in the morning, and i am scrubbing these here corn cob stickers. they are from last night's corn roast.

last night, it was the fourth of july. that there is the birthday of the united states of america!

these here corn cob stickers, you poke them into each end of the corns. that is so as not to get butter-drenched paws.

now I am scooping coagulated gravy out from nini's gravy boat which has a portrait of president george washington upon one side of it. on account of last night: we also had gravy.

now I am picking up all the burned and fizzled fireworks and the frizbees and the soda pop bottles from the back yard. i am slipping the tequila bottle from the fist of pia who is sprawled asleep with ben’s electric bass upon one of the lawn chairs.

now I am bringing the clean undershirts in from the clothesline.

now I am sweeping up the marbles which chessie rolled everywheres.

there.

i am finished with all of the chores.

now i must quietly wheel my bicycle out of the shed.

on account of today i am running away.

july 6

i am trudging alongside of the rail road tracks, and i am pushing my schwynn kittenmaster bicycle. charlie’s old haversack, it is in the bicycle basket.

also i am towing my red wagon in which is riding iron john.

iron john, he worked upon the railroad a long time ago. that was back when there was a-hammering of them irons.

iron john, he is very knowledgeable about the railroad.

me and iron john: we are going to ride the rails!

july 7

me and the bicycle and charlie’s old haversack and the red wagon and iron john, we are setting here with a family of woodchucks in a boxcar which smells like hay for cattles.

the mother woodchuck, she is knitting a brown sweater made of lumpy wool. one of the little woodchucks, he is tearing around and around upon a tricycle.

me, i am watching the scenery sweeping past.

there go some startled looking black and white cattles with knobby knees.

there goes a village, the houses of which look like after-dinner mints.

there goes a whole collection of house trailers mixed in with rusted trucks resting upon cinder blocks and orange cats hunkered upon the tops of fuel tanks.

there goes a enormous stone mansion with white pillars all over the place.

there goes a drive-in movie with homer simpson’s gigantic head upon the screen.

there goes a bunch of them white-tail deers!

them white-tail deers, they are standing upon their hind hoofs and they are waving. we are waving back. now them white tail deers, they are gone and it is a shopping mall.

july 9

the train, it has stopped in the midst of a large city which bristles of smoke stacks.

i am going to take 1 dollar of the money which i have earned from my paper route and i am going to find a all-night diner. i am going to buy a nice turkey sandwich.

* * * * *

what can i get for ye.

i would like a nice turkey sandwich.

anything to drink with that hon.

a ovaltine.

straight up or on the rocks.

um. straight up!

one turkey sandwich. ovaltine. straight up.

july 10

iron john and me, we are setting here with a bunch of bluetick hounds and we are watching the sun setting over the appalachian mountains from this here boxcar. one of them bluetick hounds, he is playing a old beat up guitar and he is singing I AM A TALL AND LONESOME BEAGLE.

this here train, it is a different train from yesterday. the whistle, it makes a most mournful sound.

well. the sun, it has setted.

i shall roll out my sleeping bag and say my novellas and then i shall go to sleep.

july 11

the thing is: i have not actually runned away.

i have gone to look for trout fishing in america!

trout fishing in america, we have not heard from him in a while. i think maybe he has left the circus.

trout fishing in america, maybe he does not have any money. sometimes that can be difficult.

on the advent that trout fishing in america, he is interested in coming home, i have brought a ziploc bag.

july 13

excuse me i am wondering if you have seen this here tilapia fish.

i am here in wheelhorse west virginia. i am standing next to a elderly old man in bib overalls and a brown felt hat. that man, he is polishing a large statue of a emu.

i am holding up a photograph of trout fishing in america which ben took with the instamatic last summer when we all went swimming at the state park. it is a little blurry. trout fishing in america, he is holding a beach ball.

nope. can’t say as i have.

the man, he has returned to polishing the statue of the emu.

are you certain? trout fishing in america, he was very interested in demolition derbys.

the man, he has taken the photograph of trout fishing in america in his leathery brown hand. he is studying the photograph intently. he is rubbing his white beard stubbles. he is tilting the photograph at various angles.

well…

the man, he is holding the photograph out at arm’s length, and he is squinting.

come to think of it there was a tilapia come through a couple weeks back. hand one of them newfangled iphones.

uh huh.

i am assiduously taking notes.

kind of on the small side. missing part of a fin.

that there, it was trout fishing in america!

said he was heading out west. something about visiting a alien grave.

july 14

me and the bicycle and the red wagon and iron john, we are riding in the back of a rattly pickup truck. we are traveling through the state of kentucky.

horses wearing roller blades and helmets, they keep skating past and disappearing over the hills.

july 15

i am here in the town of gallstone, tennessee. i am getting my bicycle tire fixed.

gallstone, tennessee, it is populated by albino squirrels.

i will ask this here albino squirrel who is fixing the bicycle tire if he has seen trout fishing in america.

excuse me have you seen this here tilapia fish. he has lost a little bit of weight since this here photograph was taken.

the albino squirrel, he is signaling with his paws.

oh i get it. he has deaf ears.

i shall lend the albino squirrel one of my clip-on ears.

july 17

well, here we are in footsville, wisconsin. we are trudging along route 90 i think.

there is supposed to be a rock somewheres around here which looks like mr. walter cronkite. however we have not found it yet.

july 18

we are in silicon valley, idaho and i am standing here at laptop henge.

old computer laptops, they are sticking every which ways out of the dust.

i thought perhaps trout fishing in america, he would come to laptop henge.

however, trout fishing in america, he is not here.

july 20

we are riding in a boxcar which has a picture of chessie upon the side of it. we are watching a tornado wandering across the great plains.

the pigeons in this here box car, they are all asleep upon their little folding cots.

july 22

this here, i reckon it is squab, north dakota. or maybe it is drywall bucket, montana. i do not know.

oh it is squab. i see some sheeps over there.

also beef cattles. them beef cattles, they are wearing hand knitted leg warmers.

i suppose all beef cattles here in north dakota, they begin knitting at a early age.

july 24

iron john and me, we are here in linux, nebraska. we are at the weed whacker museum. we are attending a seminar titled weed whackers through the ages.

july 27

camping under the stars with a anvil and having beans for breakfast. it is a pretty good thing.

july 28

i am lying on my stomach upon the warm grass with my foots in the air and i am studying the tattered old road atlas of which the new england states, they fell out somewheres in wyoming.

a brown inchworm, he is looping aimlessly across nevada. he has stopped at various towns, but never for long.

perhaps this inchworm, he is a drifter.

now he has stopped at a tiny little town which is called tilapia.

that is interesting.

july 29

i am standing along a dusty road upon the canadian border. i am holding out my small furry white thumb.

a large truck hauling logs, its air brakes are squawking and it is rolling to a stop.

the truck driver, he is loading the bicycle and the red wagon and iron john into the cab. I am scrambling up onto the seat.

et où allons-nous ce jour beau avec une si grande enclume, mon petit chat charmant?

me and iron john, we are heading to tilapia, nevada. trout fishing in america, we believe he is there.

alors, les poissons truite, il a sauvé?

yup! but trout fishing in america, he is a tilapia. he is not a trout. me and iron john, we have been to see america!

des poissons d’animal de compagnie ils briseront toujours votre coeur.

july 31
tilapia, nevada

me and iron john, we have rented a elegant and spacious hotel room. with two king-size beds!

iron john, he is resting on his side of the room and i have turned on the history channel for him to watch.

trout fishing in america, he is happily swimming around and around in his ziploc bag upon the night stand.

me, i am bouncing and leaping and flipping upon this springy bed.