Excerpt from 'The Face'

The Face

A Novella in Verse

By David St. John

HarperCollins

ISBN: 0-06-059366-0

Chapter One

I used to live there, but that was Before yesterday. Yesterday is so boring, don't you think? Even my black trench coat thinks so, & it's very sophisticated, Having once belonged to Dennis Hopper before I found it On the used rack at Animal House. Ron the owner says, fingering The shiny ink of the lapels, "Dennis Hopper." "Cool," I say. So into the bright day I walk out like the night. "Face it," Toni says when she sees me later At the sushi counter at Hama, "Dennis Hopper you're not." "OK," I say - "But the spicy tuna's terrific today." Which is why today Is better than yesterday, don't you think? I said that to myself, not To Toni or Ron or anybody. I said to myself, Yesterday is still so boring;

When I used to live there it was boring & even before yesterday It was boring - I mean, even before I knew it was boring, Before yesterday - & if I still Lived there I would probably think it was boring. But today ... Today, here with you standing right in front of me like The body of a shadow or like a shadow naked as a body, Like a woman dressed in a body naked As a shadow, like a shadow undressing before a mirror, like yesterday, Like a mirror with a shadow & a trench coat ... Well, here, today, as We both undo the loose belts of Our shadows, our trench coats, our bodies, here with you ... It's really never boring. Not today, no, & not even before yesterday.

(Continues...)

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