impossible

smiling is good. chuckling is better, and well laughing out loud is just pretty much fantastic. i mean sure yeah, you could look at this picture and think, ok a dry cleaning place on rainbow street, rainbow cleaners. got it. OR, maybe, just maybe, it is a place that really does clean rainbows. because you know, with smog and global warming and all that, you would think that rainbows would get a little dingy, loose their luster. right? and well, if you're thinking about dingy rainbows, well then you're probably inclined to think that there are some men and women out there who have somehow acquired the skills necessary to clean rainbows. make them squeaky and bright. and maybe they set up shop somewhere, and you know, every now and then, someone wanders in with their dusty rainbow, crammed in a grocery bag, looking for help. i bet that's what dallas clayton would think. as a matter of fact, i'm 100% certain that's what he would think. and i am so glad he does, is thinking that way. i found his blog the other day through camilla, and i can't stop reading it. to me it's shel silverstein reborn. i already have so many favorites, i don't know what to pick. but i can't let you go without sharing a couple, just in case you don't click through. without further ado (and with dallas's gracious permission), please enjoy.

SURPRISING

A friend turned older today.
Many years older than me.
But maybe many years younger than you.
An age where people say things like
“who’s counting, anyways?”
and have stopped giving you
interesting presents
and instead give you gift certificates
for cheese
or take you out for a meal
at a restaurant you’ve already been to
and you don’t really mind.

To help offset this
I got him a remote controlled helicopter
that you can fly inside your house.

It was shaped like a dragonfly
and named something
that sounded like it was shaped like a dragonfly
with a font on the box
that looked like something
that sounded like it was shaped like a dragonfly.

You should have seen his face.

Elation.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Have you already taken
the greatest photograph that you will ever take?
What does it look like?

Where do you keep it?

How do you know?

As an adult
have you run
top speed
naked through a field?

More than once?

Have you been inside every
room in your house today?

How about every closet?

How long since you’ve been in every closet?

Too long I bet.

There’s plenty to be learned in those closets.
Fields.
Wasted snapshots.

And you paid for them.

Get in there.

Root around.

APTITUDE

Today after being asked the question
“Were there buildings when dinosaurs were here?”
I tried to explain evolution to a five year old.

It took thirty minutes.

And I still failed.

Why can’t he ask questions like
“If you were a pair of shoes, what color would you be?”
I know the answer to that.

Gold.

SPEECH

I’d like to thank my parents
for tending to me
in the years before I can remember my own shape.

Their time
is the best thing I’ve ever stolen
from two strangers
and gotten away with clean.