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What It Is Is

What it is is Foo Ball
What it is is when you can do it on the fly between fending off
		the raccoons and timing the angel-hair pasta just right
What is is you don't know what it is
What it is is chartreuse in the nostrils of the academy
What it is is like when the cat catches a leaf and sends it flying again just
		to watch the fucker suffer
What it is is what happened between 1 BC and AD 1
What it is is why you never wanted your son to be an altar boy
What it is is why the chicken crossed the road 
What it is is vermillion in the nostrils of all the sainted martyrs
What it is is dustier than a dried-up cow pie in front of the trading post
		at the John Wayne Alamo
What it is is better than fried catfish
What it is is when you put two words back to back and they don't like it much
What it is is the first time you made fire by flint and steel
What it is is mahogany in the nostrils of the greatest heart surgeon who ever lived
What it is is you're six years old and trying to pick cotton good as your mama 
What it is is better than ABS whatever that is
What it is is taking your tequila with beer chasers, without a grain of salt
What it is is getting ready to roof a house and standing there, one leg shorter than the other, 
                on the first frosty morning in November, knowing exactly 
                                what the hell you are doing
What it is is worse than knowing that it's true
What it is is wetter than the weeping snot in the nostrils of all the dying old men dying 
                senile and alone in all the snotgreen hospital rooms 
                                in every hospital in the entire world 
What it is is watching fifty milking machines milking fifty cows simultaneously and the cows, 
		what do cows know anyway?
What it is is sexier than all the treacherous blondes in all the Mickey Spillane novels ever 
                written
What it is is Foo Dogs from Vietnam made in Guadelahara
What it is is trying to decide if it's the alternator or just the battery that's fucked up
What it is is when you put two words back to back and it is love at first sight
What it is is when you are certain you locked all the doors but the back door is standing open
What it is is better than catfish stew
What it is is the exact taste of an unfiltered Chesterfield, in the bus station in Miami, the
                day the last chopper
				lifted off in Saigon  
What it is is nastier than the nastiest whore in all of Toledo, Ohio, and what is worse she
                won't remove her bra unless you give her an extra ten
What it is is crazier than your Mamaw Polly who will stop the car and put you out on the
                loneliest two-lane blacktop that ever was if you don't stop your goddamn whining
What it is is the green flecks in the priest's eyes when he bends over to ask if you wouldn't
                like to be an altar boy
What it is is when they turn out the lights your dog Champ can get up in the bed with you
What it is is making love in the snow
What it is is trying to make sense out of Coriolanus 
What it is is the gunmetal blue of the sky over that field of broomstraw when you were
                eight years old, and the freight train passing so close it took your breath away 
What it is is owning the copyright when what you need is the goddamn trademark
What it is is bad to the bone with the fucked up jump
What it is is swearing on a stack of Bibles you won't tell anyone ever and you do it anyway, to
                the first idiot that comes by, a person so despicable you normally
				won't speak to him at all
What it is is worse than Andy ever dreamed
What it is is knowing the difference between a good job and a career and a pox on both their
                houses
What it is is telling your mama you are a petty thief and watching her lips quiver 
                when she gives you
                                the money to pay it back
What it is is trying, in spite of everything, to love your mama 
What it is is not knowing when to stop
What it is is ridiculous
What it is is the best poem you will ever write

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