things we learned while stuck in fresno
1. According to Jim, the Window Washer, we need to get out of the poetry business and into the window washing business. Not a bad idea. We learned all about how to start our own business and which squeegees to buy and how much soap to use.
2. I just learned how to spell squeegee.
3. Fresno used to be desert, until the 1840s, according to a man in the “I’d rather be rafting” hat who pops his teeth out and has a dog named Take Care.
4. Fresno is now 100 by 100. Whatever that means.
5. There is a woman with leopard spot hair and leopard spot tattoos all down her back. Her totem is a kangaroo rat. She knits and is very kind. She hates Fresno.
6. Fresno is divided into very separate areas like cities inside the city. People are really sensitive and protective of their area.
7. This area produces alot of grapes and almonds. Grapes and almonds are Ish Candy.
8. Wakimi dried seeweed makes a decent crunchy snack but only Kait was brave enough to make a soup with gas station water and drink it through a straw.
9. Mustard packets and canned collard greens can seem pretty exiting when your really hungry and have no money.
10. Poeming for strangers who did not ask you to poem for them and when you actually need the money is a very interesting feeling. Even when they enjoy it and even when they give you money. Its good for the brave bones. Good for the humble bones.
11. There’s a man who once wrote a poem called Friends in the 80s. It was about all of his friends who had died of AIDS. He has been studying genealogy since the 21st of June, 1978. He spends 29.95 a month at Ancestry.com.
12. Driving out of Fresno is a sunset over a vineyard and a sigh of relief.
