>Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train (Cont’d–Part II.3)

>3.
Bhullikky bhullikky bllkk bllkk bllkk bllkk
llkk llkk llkk llkk llkk llkk llkk

The Pampelune Hotel Baton Rouge 1921-22.
In my father’s room
is a framed photo of President Grover Cleveland
and a litho of the Great Geyser
a Scotch plaid steamer blanket / a pair of English cufflinks
a French ivory shoehorn / an Egyptian scarab tie clip
a flashlight some flashlight batteries
a portable hot plate
a soiled copy of Le Rire
a bowl of wax fruit
a postcard showing the Old Homestead
at the time of the Mexican War / a harmonica
a Sears Roebuck catalogue . . .

My father is bleeding from five wounds
which he has sustained from cutting himself shaving.
My father’s underwear has grown grey
from washing it in the hotel room sink.

Pendleton Oregon. We are forced to stay here one year
while my father is having his teeth fixed.
Wichita 1939 we have just boarded the Domeliner
and are bound NW for Butte where we spent the summer 32-33.

Buffalo 1930 the General Braddock Hotel . . .

–from Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train, by Robert Nichols (City Lights Books, 1962)

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