July 02, 2001: everybody knows
three portraits:
one
She's dressed in a tight black tank top, leather coat, little black shorts, heeled boots, and a black cowboy hat. She's walking her little dog on a long leash, striding as if she doesn't even see the crowds. A Gothic cowgirl.
two
He's standing on the corner of Pine and Olive, in a black peacoat that comes down to his ankles, with what looks like leather insets. The coat is closed, he has his hands in his pockets, and his impressively pale head is shaved absolutely bald. He looks like a refugee from a movie set--maybe Dark City.
three
He's shopping at the Roosevelt Safeway. He's got close-cropped hair, no shirt, and emblazoned in two-inch-high letters across his upper back is a tattoo reading WHITE PRIDE. His pants are riding low on his hips, and a few inches of his underwear is showing. Tighty whities. He walks with a swagger.
He has not an ironic bone in his body.
I was thinking about going on hiatus over the weekend.
Still thinking about it. But I'm not ready to, yet. I want the silence, but I also want noise, words, anything to keep me distracted.
I am not being particularly brave right now, and that terrifies me.
I am waiting.
Is this a silence about to be broken?
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.
Everybody knows the war is over.
Everybody knows the good guys lost.
Everybody knows the fight was fixed:
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.
That's how it goes. Everybody knows.
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking.
Everybody knows the captain lied.
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died.
Everybody talking to their pockets.
Everybody wants a box of choc'lates
And a long stem rose. Everybody knows.
Everybody knows. Everybody knows.
That's how things goes. Everybody knows.
Everybody knows. Everybody knows.
That's how it goes. Everybody knows.
"Everybody Knows", Leonard Cohen
