Kid, and: Lover, and: Three Windows, and: Rebellion of the Hanged

8 THE MINNESOTA REVIEW STUART DYBEK KID Teena says he'd be nice if he cleaned up his vocabulary. Why girls like him who knows, not being one & glad of it if it means some creep calling you bitch at the beach, as in "Whataya want on your hotdog, bitch?" Ruthie says at least he talks like he thinks, Kid's philosophy being It's all bullshit. Pam, the astrologer always asking everyone their exact moment of birth, who Kid tagged Miss Whore-O-Scope, predicts: "In a few years Aries like him lose their build to boozing. Don't think ladies don't check out guy's asses." 9 DYBEK LOVER Kid rides her home holding hands while the Clark St. bus delivers Saturday Night — punks in leather, drunken warriors, queens, who got on glittering at Diversy, slumping by Wrigley Field. At every stop he jounces against her cushioned by her breasts, inhaling her perfumed hair spray, each block closer to the only destination he's dreamed about for days, a sagging Hide-A-Bed draped with a Navajo blanket on a screened backporch behind the room where her grandma snores the death rattle. Two hours later he's alone riding back the way he came, a spade with a gold cross earring passed out against him, his razor scars like secret writing, an empty wine bottle rolling under the seats slouched men groaning with each stop, a midget crying in the long backseat. Kid keeps sniffing his hands wondering if anyone has noticed the delicate bouquet of cunt he's carrying religiously as a bride. He peeks around. They're all too out of it. 10 THE MINNESOTA REVIEW THREE WINDOWS ONE Painted stuck. TWO Ropes frayed, weights lost in the sash. It must have crashed like a guillotine. They replaced the pane with cardboard. THREE Opened opposite a wall. Whoever lived here left burnt matchsticks in the shape of a man, his erect penis as long as his arms and legs, beside a seashell ashtray on the sill. REBELLION OF THE HANGED Each day a bit more constriction until it's more comfortable with the tongue protruding like this and even possible to propel oneself backwards like a squid by constantly giving the raspberries ...