Flunking the Propaganda Course

strange men with belly trouble & their pin up girls: zelda rat — crooked betty & volcano the leg — here they come — theyre popped out & theyve been seen crying in the chapel — their friend, who says that everybody cries a lot — he's the congressional one & carries the snapshots — his name is Tapanga Red — known in L.A. as Wipe'M Out — he coughs a lot — anyway they walk in — it's very early & they ask for black mongrels apiece — jenny says "why not roll'm?" "they're cops!" says a little boy who just climbed a mountain & who's learned how to smell in the circus— jenny retires to the pinball machine — steam getting thicker — zelda rat asks for second black mongrel — please make it hot — one of the men, he dangles a watch in front of her face "it's late — zeld babe — it's late" & zelda's face turns into a measle & she says "i'm alergic" — a ringing sound & she say "oh look — that girl over there is getting free balls" — trying to get jenny's attention, one of the men, he asks "anything bothering you?" jenny replies "yes — whatever happened to Orval Faubus?" & the man quickly drops the subject — his eye swollen he pushes one of the hot mongrels down poor zelda's dress — asks now does she wanna nother one — everybody breaks into stitches except someone who's talking to a window & jenny, who's busy racking up balls. . .the man who looks like an adam's apple — i think he belongs to crooked betty — he goes thru his stool — volcano — she wraps him in the national insider — everybody reads him — jenny tilts the machine — the man's dead — just then, the congressional one, he pulls out a luger he says a kraut give to him during the war which is a goddamn lie, & begins to shoot up the barbecue beef signs. . .the radio plays the star— spangled banner — next day, a young arsonist, with a turtle on his head & his hands on his hips & his backbone slipping, sees me walking the donkey on the east side — "saw you with jenny last nite — anything happening there?" i say "oh my God, how can you ask such a thing? dont you know there are starving kids in china?" he say "yes, but that was last nite— today's a new day" & i say "yeah — well that's too bad — i still aint gonna tell you nothing about jenny" he calls me an idiot & i say "here take my donkey if it'll make you feel any better — i'm on my way to the movies anyway" it is five minutes to rush hour — a strange transaction of goods takes place on third avenue — the supermarket explodes from malnutrition — God bless malnutrition

i dont care what bob hope says — he
aint going with you nowhere — also, john
wayne mightve kicked cancer, but you
oughta see his foot — forget about those
hollywood people telling you what to do —
theyre all gonna get killed by the indians —
see you in your dreams

lovingly, plastic man