The Straw Throne


…And I almost hit him. Back there, I would've hit him. Chair of sharp broken straw, staddling the yellow lines, he just sat there, content in the gushing rain. Dry though, he seemed so dry and old and blue and naked and worn. Every dirty hair of his rippling chest pasted against him, but he seemed okay. For all I know, I only got a glimpse, but that glimpse is like a painting in my mind, the most beautiful I've ever seen. God knows I could paint his picture and make it beautiful. His eyes weren't scared though, what was he doing there? I should have stopped I suppose, but there were cars holding me in place like brick walls and none of them seemed to see him. Just drove and went home and I sat all night thinking of the man in the chair with my back to the headboard, the most comfort I've ever felt.
Kate, my tired and special wife, cried at my face- I couldn't move my eyes. Look at me now and see what is here in my face and tell me I'm crazy. Minds play tricks sure, but I saw him so real. Nighttime and so late and in gushing rain but I could have touched him. Only he seemed so undisturbed, and proud, a king on his throne, like a tornado yanked him from his troubled castle, the screaming lonely prisoners, and settled him in a life-giving rain.
Proud, so proud that I spent the night awake and dusty-feeling. Queen Kate rubbing my chest so hard it hurt. Reality is, I cannot be sure he was there like when our beautiful new-born. She didn't last long in her tight skin, her body too small, she was gone almost as soon as she was born and I asked myself if she even existed in the first place.
Thinking about that man, I shall take my seat and thing about the people and their little "ant" world of work and toil for a queen that looks exactly like they do. Unrelenting king I will be, just like my friend in the chair on I-95 that no one saw, but they will know me. Voom, the cars drive by almost hitting me but I am immortal. Wailing with laughter, it's fun to stare them in the eyes and the shock hits them like a spark from their juvenile radio songs, they all see me. Xanadu, my throne is beautiful, but Kate cries loneliness. "You there, work harder, bring me food, I need an umbrella, stand and look pretty," I'd laugh at the old and sick. Zero tolerence for the weak, my straw chair popping in the wet, I will stay in my chair for years and years more and this rain hasn't ended since the day that I almost hit him.











Authors note: did you catch this? The first letter of every line starts with a letter of the alphabet going in order. let me know if you caught that.