Uncle Julius had a ball

as syllables to taste, to smell, to hear,and feast old eyes upon the sweetest harmony.Each child to take a place to serve and pleasebetween steep walls of my rotunda where I preachto playful buzzing and the never-parted knees.Meanwhile Priapus lusts for heavy cream and peachwhile in the twilight, as he drums onto her backprecise hexameters…

Though by nothing impressedhe was building a chestthat received the big nod from his God.

but they did not succeedto take care of their needall four of their hemispheres boggled.

behind the counter ofbeloved Martindale’s.Books, New and Used,including Paperbacks and Maps,and Texts for Medicine,yes, Jurisprudence and The Arts.Open ’til nine, on seventh street.Downtown, one block from Rubens,Jewish sandwich shop,and, if too busy, Pershing’s Square.Oh, yes, LA, the early seventies,the smog so thick that eyes were custom red,poor Malcolm had a history of troublewith the old…

One day he saw on the trapezea muscled woman named Louise.To show her that he was no cowardhe called his colleague, (name was Howard)and told him that he’d climb the ropethat courage would bestow some hope.And so he climbed until he stoodnext to Louise. He said he wouldnow be an artist of the airto which…

It seemed he glanced, occasionally, at me,as if he thought my future to be bleak.Without an introduction he descended then,and perched on a green stump, close to my bench.We eyed each other to the count of nine (or ten) ,he, feathered friend, and I, a dressed-up Mensch.He spoke before he sang and said ‘my human…