MAVES


by Adrian Korpel


So I left you in Boulder at the Sign of Aquarius and maybe I shouldn't have because you have a great voice and a great body, but how much positive energy can a man draw from the crystals and worship the Goddess and open the chakras of his astral body and say his mantras and retrieve his soul, only so much and not me so much I guess, so I kissed you and you cried, but my karma takes me to I-70 and the East and the plains where people are fat and without grace but understandable, so we kissed and I left you at the Sign of Aquarius crying and drinking your Afghan yoghurt.

And when I had driven through Kansas like for days and thousands of grain elevators I stopped at this road-crossing town called Maves and checked into a motel and got myself a room with a king size bed, but I don't know why, you not being there, and then I went to find a restaurant on Main street that crosses I-70 and runs from 30th Street to 11th Street and then ends at the grain elevator opposite the Toyota dealer.

And while I was driving slowly past the bill boards looking for a place to eat, I thought of the Tibetan prayer wheel you once showed me, that had strong and weak prayers written around the edge, and I began to read aloud all the strong signs written along Main Street like McDonalds, Conoco, Wendy, Pizza Hut, Hardee, Arby, Dillon, Penny , Texaco and then I read the weak ones farther away from I-70 like Taco Grande, Centennial Carpets, Taco Tico, Kirby Vacuum, Pizza Palette, Bionic Burger and finally I got to the end of Main street and stopped at the grain elevator.

I looked west past the water tower towards Boulder with the sun going down over the endless flat fields and then I turned around and drove back along Main Street until I came to the Country Kitchen where they gave me a booth and a menu that I studied and that listed all their skillets like Farmer's, Texas, Mexican, Chicken, Garden, Old World and then I saw you explaining the prayer wheel to me again with your serious face and then I thought of how yesterday you had sat in The Age of Aquarius drinking your Afghan yoghurt and crying.

So I went back to my hotel and checked out again and started west on I-70 towards Boulder and now I'm thinking why am I doing this because how much positive energy can a man draw from the crystals and worship the Goddess and open the chakras of his astral body and say his mantras and retrieve his soul, only so much, and not me so much I guess.

But then I see your serious face and your crying face and I keep on going.