"Rock Around"

"One two, three o'clock, four o'clock!"

(Drum rumbles and rat-a-tats. Horns rise.)

—and we is watching a film,

all lying like lazy leeches on couches

at A's old house, although he is gone five years and cold in his grave.

—And the TV rumble farts a croon from Nick Cave,

about thank you girl, thank you girl

(and he draw out that "thank you" until it is "thaaaaahnk yahhh, gurrrl!" Thaaaaahnk yahhh, gurrrl!"; and, anyway, he'll love you and thank you 'Til the End of the World.")

—And Auntie and Dot-Dot are there,

and Auntie have on some tan sheen makeup

and big eyelashes (what make her look like a mulato of tragic fame),

and they fall all crooked over her

big,

sleepy,

stupid,

(Pummeling walk of bass notes swell bigly.)

sin-filled and indelicate eyes.

—And she is like a teenage debutante,

huge, crooked, paste-on eyelashes

and she go out,

down the porch, stepping off the stone step

and he explode, and point the finger in the face

(like pointing the bone in voodoo);

and accuse her,

and ask her again why she violated a child at eleven,

and tell her how sick and disgusted he is.

—And come back in and two hulking gang members are getting ready to throw down,

with huge coats covering their gun bellies

—and one gets up, and says something to the other,

who is threatening-like, but he do a little embarrassed dance

...and get a look on his face like he break wind.

And I go to sleep,

and wake up

—and a cop

with a dog

on a leash

outside is wishing me back to wakefulness

as the red and blue lights flicker flaming fireworks across the wall.

"Mr. Baker? Mr. Baker?"

(Electric twang of iron guitar. Someone has been shot.)

—and Auntie and Dot Dot are gone.

—and it's like last house on the left sez is:

"just a movie, just a movie, just a movie..."

—and it is called "Rock Around the Clock," and Bill Halley and The Comets are there in spirit,

and the screen flash to an image of Eisenhower-era illustration

of Squaresville:

Dad

and Mom,

and Jilly,

and Susie,

and (don't forget) Little Billy

—and America and Apple Pie and,

like wholesome goodness.

—and the audience get up to leave and laugh,

and they have enjoyed this time while the music from another era,

another age

(manipulate the mind)

—to take it back to another time

and command the audience that they

SHALL BE MERRY AND CONTENT CONSUMERS

(and cheerful);

...and life is like a soap bubble that is already burst

but we just don't know it.

YET.