 (opening lines from this story in Paul H’s collection, The Doctrine of Affections) I got a phone call the other night, long distance from L.A…. so I picked up. / ‘Hello?’ / ‘Hello. Is this Paul Headrick?’ / ‘Yes. Who’s calling?’ / ‘This is Howard Kaylan…. Are you Paul Headrick the producer?’ / ‘Afraid not.’ / … / ‘You’re not the Howard Kaylan… of the Turtles. Lead singer.’ / … / When I told my wife, Heather, about the call she was amused. / … / I show my stories to Heather… before the first draft is complete…. She didn’t like my using our real names and situations. / … / She was wearing her writing clothes, grey Langara College sweatpants I gave her a couple of Christmases ago… Keep it flowing, Breeder It was Flo & Eddie, 1970 (at Massey) pseudonymously Triggers en masse, saucy seventeener — you’re so on the right track, baby! No matter how they tossed the dice Breed’s gotta be up on the miЯRor not just vintage vinyl Copy this — for real — metafictional couple (Hey, we know these people!) And It had to be … It’s only right caving or vexing, she wouldn’t approve his con’s feint (Sweats or no, she’d never faint) Flight time eclipses a flat 55-year oval And how is the weather? Steady, with no real pall on the wet coast heather Pls phone us all, give us a call at Langara What, were you expecting a shout-out for Kundera? [1] [1] Flo & Eddie (of the Turtles), also as pseudonyms for Mark Volman & Howard Kaylan, the two lead singers in Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention (Massey Hall, Toronto, 1970); 1970 adds up to a 17’er: being cheeky with dumbo numerology again; italicized lines from the Turtles’ “Happy Together” Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet with 26 books in print (from BlazeVOX, Chax, Spuyten Duyvil, & others). His personal papers are archived in the “Contemporary Literature Collection” at Simon Fraser University. His website is StephenBett.com
Website: StephenBett.com Image by Adria Berrocal Forcada
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |