retract raze once i tried to play a friend's accordion and found my arms were too long. "i need retractable limbs," i said. she laughed. but i meant it. now the maple seeds are turning pink. hundreds of them all around my feet. a bearded man in a panama hat crosses his arms. for a second i almost expect him to start dancing. it's something about the way he stands. he sneezes. he's not a dancer. he's allergic to pollen. and his dog is dead. her name was maisie. he used to sing to her. "maisie, oh maisie. if i'm a fool, i'm a fool for you." i asked him if he named her after a syd barrett song. he said it was short for amazing grace. she was a little old lady of a terrier. she had a few mini-strokes and a bad hip, but she seemed happy. i always remember her with an aluminum walker, even though they don't make those for dogs. they should. and there's no way it's only sixty something degrees outside today. every meteorologist is a goddamned liar. but every liar gets a bit of truth stuck between their teeth sometimes. the sun makes a heated blanket out of my black jeans. i want to sink to the bottom of this sweltering sea and never surface again. if only my legs would let me. 220517 what's it to you? who go blather from