I think Patrick's on to something here, Bill. And a few typos, too...
But it's a good narrative...
Doug
On 2013-08-28, at 12:11 AM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks Bill nice tale -was not sure if it needed the last verse??
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Bill Wootton
> Sent: 28 August 2013 06:39
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Cometh the Hour snap
>
> Cometh the Hour
>
> So Geoff it was, tow-headed Geoff
> with his withered arm 'swimming'
> in the dangling cuff of his striped
> shirt sleeve, Footscray barracking
> clerical assistant Geoff, so easily
> embarrassed, as when fellow
> office workers twisted the rubber
> tail of his Wile E Coyote toy
> so that it looked like a penis;
> Geoff, of all the six floors of research
> officers, statisticians and clerks,
> who saw what needed to be done.
>
> A girl sunbaking on her lunch break
> on a neighbouring city building roof
> had become stranded when a stray
> wind gust had knocked over the chair
> she had propped in the doorway,
> locking her out; she calling forlorly
> to pdestrians below. Other eyes gazed
> on high, fingers stabbed on muting glass.
> Not Geoff's. As soon as he saw, Geoff
> finger-flicked the Yellow Pages, found
> the name of the building, dialled,
> asked to speak to the caretaker.
>
> Geoff, who, getting the runaround
> on the phone, slammed it down
> and marched off to the lift lobby.
> Geoff, who emerged, some fifteen
> minutes later, from behind
> the custodian of keys, shuffled
> towards the girl, extended his good
> right hand and shook the girl's,
> before turning and waving
> and raising his thumb skywards
> to the darkened glass windows
> of his workplace.
>
> Geoff, who, returning to his desk,
> coloured slightly as he acknowledged
> with a dismissive flap of his good
> arm, the spontaneous applause
> which greeted him as he
> resumed his position.
>
> bw
> 28.08.13
>
Douglas Barbour
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
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Art is always the replacing of indifference by attention.
Guy Davenport
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