That night before bed he read a letter sent to him by Jean Mullion Polycarp “Follow my example: break with the outside world, live like a bear—a polar bear—send everything to the devil, everything and yourself with it, except your own intelligence”[1]. That night he slept like a wolfhound, his backbone pulled into his shoulders. Le Colibri was in possession of a dolorous collection of whores’ rickrack’s, which he kept under lock and key in a Sanssouci box under his bed. That night Le Colibri slept like an angel, the wings of his heart beating against the cool night air. The next day upon awakening he fell swooning for the harridan’s sister, finding her simple countenance to his liking. That night he dreamt that he and the harridan’s sister were lovers, the heathery aroma of her hair, spun by angels on a heavenly loom, rousing him from sleep.
Settimo Torinese lives above the flood line behind the Cooper Osnabrück Piemonte, the cooper banging and clashing his iron hammer against his steel forge. When he was a boy the legless man’s da took him to see the cooper, his da tugging on his arm ‘this is the man who’s going to change your life forever’. The cooper forged him a pair of iron legs, pounding and shaping strings of molten iron across the pommel of his anvil, forge ash and smoke smarting the legless boy’s (for he was born without legs) tiny blue eyes. Arbuckle the tanner fashioned him a bridle and yolk, fastening the iron legs to his stumps with leather straps and a silver buckle. The summer he got his iron legs the legless man’s da started working for the Silverfish Hosepipe Co. His da drove the Silverfish deliver truck, the back end packed to the ceiling, jostling, with hosepipes and rubber gaskets. On Mondays his da and the driver for the Mercury Fish Co. raced for eel and chips, the driver of the Mercury Fish truck loosing 27 times out of a hundred.
[1] Flaubert's advice to Alfred Le Poittevin on devoting oneself to "Art."
Settimo Torinese lives above the flood line behind the Cooper Osnabrück Piemonte, the cooper banging and clashing his iron hammer against his steel forge. When he was a boy the legless man’s da took him to see the cooper, his da tugging on his arm ‘this is the man who’s going to change your life forever’. The cooper forged him a pair of iron legs, pounding and shaping strings of molten iron across the pommel of his anvil, forge ash and smoke smarting the legless boy’s (for he was born without legs) tiny blue eyes. Arbuckle the tanner fashioned him a bridle and yolk, fastening the iron legs to his stumps with leather straps and a silver buckle. The summer he got his iron legs the legless man’s da started working for the Silverfish Hosepipe Co. His da drove the Silverfish deliver truck, the back end packed to the ceiling, jostling, with hosepipes and rubber gaskets. On Mondays his da and the driver for the Mercury Fish Co. raced for eel and chips, the driver of the Mercury Fish truck loosing 27 times out of a hundred.
[1] Flaubert's advice to Alfred Le Poittevin on devoting oneself to "Art."
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