She could not remember punch lines after setups went awry. Dollar bills crumpled with newsprint and saliva interconnected by non-functioning incubators. Slammed between Atlantic Avenue and an unknown cliff my steepness reinvented itself as a fattened sweet potato that moved from house to house, unannounced and unsupervised, until every house had a twitchy staff of life. I reveled in demonic confusion sowed by capable park rangers, scooping up sacrificial livestock from sanity’s derelict timeline. Plucked yet soft I let blood flow through invisible sediment, coursing and distorting itself with diligently tended stew. Where is the agony? Where did you hide it? Are there youngsters involved, or were victims of legal age? Robots need to know before making informed decisions. I left them to her (decisions, that is) and she hoisted the goblet deftly. Noise ceased as all of us listened, listened for a groaning, or a shuffle in the sand. Rivers fill with yucca and bananas as string beans grow from my armpits. Some see me on the street and ask if I’m aware that cactus has sprouted from my neck, or that a hairless creature has gnawed my ankles to a bloody pulp. I respond in the affirmative. Of course I know. It is they who are ignorant of the sacrifice I make to let them survive. A doorbell rings. A cat responds. Tired but concerned a traveling librarian asks how the cat’s chances shaped up after dissection of the political machine reached fever pitch. No response needed, as the nearby mountain of shaved hair and an unmistakable smell of gassy sarcasm filled the librarian’s lungs. She instantly suffocated. More doorbells rang, more unexplained beeps emitted from non-existent electronic devices. Glass-eyed, confused, I raise my voice to the possibility that all penetration of unusable doctrine into the minds of untamed zealots is a victory for mental tumescence. Go forth, I suggest, into frivolous clouds of vapor, bringing with you teams of gyrating garbage trucks. Let the rumble slow from violent noise to steady, humming temptation.