x3

Nostalgia sets in, & I lose my

teeth. More benefit than hind-

erance — stops me chewing

over un temps perdu that has 

little to make it worth revisiting.

Nostalgia sets in, & I lose my

internet connection. Maybe I

shouldn’t be piggybacking into

the ether on my neighbor’s wifi.

Nostalgia sets in, & I lose my

canteloupes. Not immediately;

but before the melon harvest 

can get underway, gargoyles 

that have torn themselves away

from cathedral roofs flock down

to feast, leave nothing behind.

Random / noises from / the vowel house

According to onlookers, I’d

dodged a bullet. But I’ve been

deep into word puzzles of

late, & couldn’t let that pass

by without questioning how it

parsed. “Do you mean I may

have dodged a ballet since I

didn’t go into the city with my

partner last night? Or maybe

didn’t spend that same time

watching a belly dancer or that

comedian who provokes belly

laughs in his audience? Or,

more precisely, perhaps no 

one offered me a glass of Bellet 

wine or took me for a drive in 

their old Isuzu Bellet? Then 

again, nobody offered me an

overnight billet, or gazed at me 

& sent me billets-doux, or in-

vited me to go & see that 

French pop group that’s app-

arently quite popular these 

days.  Have I left anything 

out?” I get blank looks, so re-

mind them that bollets are

another word for a type of

mushroom, & that it’s now

dinner time, & I’ve prattled on

for so long they’re probably

wishing that the projectile had

hit the mark & stopped me 

carrying on like a bull at a gate.

XXL Largo

(A Tom Beckett Title)

Now that the wet season

has arrived, I go surfing

before I go surfing, hoping

to find some johnnie O 

swim shorts in an extra

extra large size which also

have some length to them.

eBay offers me a pair for $89,

described as having a Conch 

Floral design, lined, & with 

a drawstring. The Adidas 

equivalent at Amazon also 

has a drawstring, is in a Rip-

stop 100% recycled polyester 

but is currently out of stock. 

In the same breath — or at

least on the same page — Ali-

baba.com, under the sub-cat-

gories of Sex Toys / Dildos,

has a Ready to Ship Big XXL 

Largo Penis Enlargement 

Cream with a 2-year shelf 

life. Sterilization, cleaning, & 

a free sample are included. They

say they support private labels

& can manufacture to a custom-

er’s own design (OEM) or relabel

Alibaba products (ODM). It

also is currently unavailable.

Still surfing, I find I can buy a 

Ralph Lauren Polo sweater — 

Talle XXL, Largo 80cm, Ancho 

70cm — for a mere $33,000; or,

at the other end of the scale, an 

XXL long custom “stromboli” 

mousepad with a list price of 

€44.00. If that was what the

sweater cost I might be inter-

ested; but most everything I’ve

seen so far seems to have little

to do with surfing, or is out of

stock, or is way too expensive.

Time to stop; so a last entering

of the search term. I goof, leave

off the size’s L, so, when I enter,

Chopin & YouTube are every-

where. 24 Preludes, Op. 28: XX. 

No. 20 in C Minor (Largo). It’s a

nice piece, so I sit back & enjoy.

escalator elephants

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