Dean Creighton

Dean Creighton is chief functionary of smiling dog press (see also Blue

Bottle Project, the dog's newest pursuit). The Leelanau Penninsula is

described (by the local chamber of commerce) as "one of the most beautiful

and fun-filled places in all of Lower Michigan." Not Alaska. Dean can

be reached at <creighd@elmo.nmc.edu>.

Millennium Poem

millennium

shhpelenium.

Broken Metronome

The Fireball Lounge

in Kalkaska

hasn't seen a renovation since

l979 and the floors

have been pissed on

and spat upon and

kumm-kissed & buttock slapped.

I'm eating a ham and cheese

on white bread grilled in margarine

and served on a bed of chips.

they forgot the pickle

I didn't want to order the burger

because I'm saving my belly for the

iced vodka icing waiting in my freezer

after I get home from this denouement-

after the union mail-count school.

These people are not artifacts.

They work for a living

ever-y-day

and they are political.

i don't trust anyone of them

We're drinking beer

trading cards.

In the other room

on the otherside of

the pool table

people are drinking

a pregnant woman

at the bar

is talking about

how the asshole

broke her window

Aand I can taste my

vodton

although

I sip

at the edge

of my beer.

eFair Day's Pay

It was up in Leelanau Penninsula

five years before we made statehood.

There was not much around

except white pine, maple, and hemlock stands

a few white tail

and always the crows.

I was cutting

steamship cordwood

for Nurnburger

trying to save up a stake

to get some farmable land

but when I finally did

after snow melt

we found out that the loam

was only two inches deep.

That was a decent day

warm for the 10th of November

the snows had not come

and we were bending to it

to put up some wood

before the northerlies

shut us down.

I had hired on late.

Young as I was I had been out whoring.

Spending a little of my stake

just to keep the pipes clean.

I was trying to make up

for my excess'

and being a Christian

felt duly guilty.

It was a payday

so we worked

up until

we could not hardly

see the saw.

The other boys got paid

and went on home

or into Glen Haven

to see what comfort they could find

at the Inn.

Nurnburger offered me home whiskey

so we sat on a log pile

sipped from the jug and talked about

plans for next Spring.

Or he talked mostly

being an Empire Builder

he had a lot to talk about.

After a half hour's time

when that whiskey

was long lonesome

in my stomach

and no more was offered

I asked him if maybe

I could have my pay

because I was thinking

I would head into the Inn myself

and take a little tightness

from my shoulders.

It was then that Nurnberger explained

how because I had gotten on to the crew

so late in the season

he would not be able to pay me

until the following Spring.

Because that was his policy.

To not pay a man

until he had put in a full month's work.

I sat

and listened to him speak

being raised

polite

and I guess he made the mistake

that many people do

when they mistake

silent politeness

for stupidity.

So I shot him in the head.

The strangest thing

while he lay there

before the blood came gushing

there was a whispering whistling sound

that came from the hole in his head.

I thought for a second

that it was a sign

that maybe I should feel bad.

But I did not.

Dean Creighton