bounty hunter

i’m a bounty hunter. it’s an ugly job. it’s not about the carts. the stores don’t want them back, not the carts i’m after. it’s about the commercial war against the homeless.

Your normal carts gone astray are collected by high-school students making minimum wage or fished out of stream beds by canvasing environmental groups.

My targets are the carts filled with a lifetime of belongings, filled with the residue of hard times, the detritus of civilization’s living detritus. Or so the mercantile class around these parts sees it.

When I head under the elevated interstate interchanges into the dark encampments where hundreds of carts are present along with abandoned furniture and discarded building materials and makeshift cardboard-and-blanket tents, i’m descending into a mental underworld,

i used to repossess automobiles but i’m too old for that now.

my focus this year was mary p., who accumulated a collection of carts, filled them, and hid them around the city. i found them one by one and dumped their contents. word on the street was that her distress increased with each loss. word on the street was that she was teetering on the edge of a serious meltdown.

i didn’t stop. i kept finding and dumping her carts.

you know how they say, take a long walk off a short pier. she took a long walk off a pier with no surface remaining on it. i emptied her final cart into the sea.

photo courtesy of Morguefile
for Friday Foto Flash Fiction Challenge

haiku

pink belt of venus
gentle band of color
warms the horizon

for Putting My Feet in the Dirt

haiku

nature left clothes off
only one nude animal
born with low thread count

for Fandango’s One-word Challenge

haiku

wildlife restricted
borders shrink poachers increase
veldt becomes museum

for Weekend Writing Prompt

haiku

spring is for the new
future is now not later
the old die in spring

for Daily Addictions

haiku

do gods give advice
wouldn’t do that; better not
carrot not the stick

for Word of the Day Challenge

haiku

red flowers in spring
withering in summer heat
yellow flowers spread

for OpenLinkNight

celebrate your body

Celebrate your body every morning
Wet it then dry it ever so slowly
Begin with your hair or if you are bald your pate
Dry your neck wattles lovingly
Dry your front and back
Dry your loins with a sawing motion
If you are limber enough dry your legs
Do not attempt to dry your feet you could fall over and break a hip
Use a new towel every day or the same towel every day no exceptions
Towel should be heavy no less than 1,000 GSM (grams per square meter)
Should have densely woven loops of 3-ply yarns for strength and durability
Luxurious, spa-like warm and cozy experience is essential
100% Egyptian cotton or for political reasons Tibetan cotton
Must absorb. Pile must drift like cloud over your corpus
Never hang on a hook
Never allow bleach, cleaning agents or acne salicylic acid treatments near it
Must remain plush after laundering. How to wash a towel is cleaning 101 especially if mildew is common where you live (vinegar and baking soda)
Optional classic piqué border
Never wrap around your body! it is not a dress or suit!
Must be certified by TexSufi, globally trusted and recognized testing system for ecologically safe textiles
Never use on a pet. (Small, jewel-like birds excepted)
Your towel is your friend, your companion, your lover
On second thought, also celebrate your body every evening

for The Weekly Terrible Poetry Contest

Steps

I went to Xigaze
To study with Khyogla Bapu
Sought a house with few steps
For my artificial legs
But was sent away
As the path to enlightenment requires many steps

for The Twiglets