Random Crap From An Old Notebook the recurring feature is finally recurring

Haha. Long ago in 2009 I wrote a post titled Random Crap From An Old Notebook which was exactly what it was. When I was a much younger man who still had long curly locks on his head I was constantly writing and doodling in little spiral notebooks. I would also keep score when I played along with Jeopardy so you'll find these pages filled with numbers and then some question at the bottom. Anyways, when the first random crap post was done I said it was to be a recurring feature here, but I never posted another one. Until now. Eleven years in the making I drop another one for you dear readers. Maybe it won't take so long to do it again. This entry comes from a notebook called This Sucks Experiments in Prose that I wrote mainly during fall of 1986. There's a long, unfinished letter to my friend D.D. where I review the R.E.M. concert at the Grand Ole Opry House on September 10, 1986 which I may share on here one of these days. "These Days" was the opening song of that Life's Rich Pageant tour date.

There was a short story writing contest in Creem magazine to win a trip to see R.E.M. then so I was trying to write something to enter it, but never followed through. That's sort of the story of my life. I never follow through.......

This story I found might have been one of my attempts at that contest or it might not have been. I was writing lots of stuff back then. I have found variations of this guy meets a cool girl at the rock club in different notebooks so it was probably just a preoccupation in my mind. It was titled Commentary for some reason.

From 1986:

She read with poetry. Because she bought me a beer at the Exit/In. We left for awhile and drove around until we got lost. She had red hair cut the way I liked it. I asked directions at a convenience store somewhere in Green Hills. I found the main road full of hills like a rollercoaster. My hands were shaky. We almost wrecked lots. I impressed her. I kissed her. I gave her my prayer beads. She kissed me.

The band stopped playing. My head stopped spinning. I looked around and nobody was there except for a bartender and a few friends of the band. The bathrooms were empty. So was my heart. I stumbled out into the night....wasn't I just out there before....where did I park the car. I noticed my prayer beads were missing. Another night clubbing. Shaky keys in the ignition. Night posts flash by. Where did my love go...vanishing poetry in the night.