last dream before the last snoozed burst
of infuriating alarm banished sleep:
for some reason my guitar
was leaned against the wall outside
my apartment in the hall, the pegs themselves against
plastered concrete, the strap button balanced on tile.
as i exited a guy walking past bumped it and it
started falling
over as he walked on. "asshole" i muttered,
catching it
lest that resonating chamber's wooden edges
should strike floor, strings ringing
within the bigger resonating chamber
of the hallway, savoring preventing that
racket. and i guess he heard, accepting
the description
because he grabbed and started dragging me down
the hallway, i with one hand
trying to hand off the guitar to someone
(both this guy was walking
with people and i was
coming out of the apt with people too - hmm,
i also knew that
certain individuals inside
were asleep, busy or likely to come to my
aid if i
should call) or set it down gently someplace,
to re-lean it upright where it would not
clatter so i could get that hand at
my assailant's face,
but i couldn't find a sure spot as this asshole
swung me around. . . and then i stumbled
over to the alarm and finally
got up.
i see now how i should have used his
momentum against him
one handed while gracefully spinning and swinging the
instrument out from between us and away
from the walls and vectoring blows.
pretty sure i hadn't thought of that then,
as in that case i'd still be sleeping,
the clock's intrusive claxon vanquished
for another day.