fall...ing (reprise) four floors isn't enough to kill someone.

from outside a faculty office building of a prestigious asian university sheltered by trees that reached for each other in the sky, a man decides to take his fate by his hands and jumps off the top of a four-story college building primarily used by professors, writers and souls of the stage.

from within an office in that faculty center, a professor notices and stops his lecture, finally winning rapt attentions from his students. the man is gathered onto a wide wooden plank. an amublance comes. the professor dismisses his students.

what's four floors? a quarter second. a turn of a page. a whisper of breeze carrying browned leaves of unsaid stories.

this weekend i have to get my butt to a store to get a shelving unit with wheels. and then i can put away my new books and clothes. and then i can move on with the rest of my life.

in kalamazoo, michigan on the bus back to chicago, i noticed a house painted goldenrod yellow, the kind of yellow annoying announcements for university organizations are copied on so people will notice, the kind of paper you pass out that contains a poem or two to remind your students these words have note. they automatically turn away from goldenrod yellow because the natural red of maples entices them more, the way the one tree turned first before all the others, making them wonder if trees do talk to each other and race each other and show each other off and if the homeowner with the goldenrod yellow house realizes that his back yard maple tree's decided to turn ahead of the others.

the bus passes the neighborhood and it is the end of the block. goldenrod yellow sears the edges of my eyes. i try not to think of the canadian books i could have purchased had i been given the chance. i'll have a better idea where to lodge all these stories once i get my shelf with new wheels.   ¶ 10/07/2004 11:02:00 PM