Play with the bull long enough and you will get a horn in the ARSE!!

You were warned about sleeping dogs!But NOOOOO!!

Ya wanted to poke the bear!

I may be out of animal references, but we are at the end of the rope here…

Dennis Mantin

Originally the dream was just survival. Dare nothing past the essentials for fear of being smacked off that high horse of; ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’

The mind was quieted for many a score with internal interests of learning how to be still with fears and dreams and somehow simply be…

The dream of not caring what others think at times seemed unattainable and yet here we are on a rock hurtling through time and space..

How lucky is that?

Dennis Mantin

“What is fiction?” She asked.

Chinaski answered. “Fiction is an improvement on life. ”

Perfect.

Dennis Mantin

Bukowski said when you clean up the city, you kill it.

That life is where the whores are, where the jukeboxes play; in the bars.

Ah but Charles… I have been to your dives and honkeytonks with the whores and addict drunks and I have experienced the life and stimulation there… and that shit gets old quick.

I like your writing and have a warmth to this rare honesty. However I am guessing you never experienced love as a child or loved children of your own, for that is where life is.

Dennis Mantin

He was called Tiny Tom and worked as a bouncer at a dive on Queen street. He looked to be about 6’5″, 300 lbs.

A girl I dated whose name I can’t remember said she went to his place one time where he lived with his parents and he slept in a single bed in the bedroom he grew up in and the wallpaper was cowboys and Indians.

He wore a black bikers vest and stood at the doorway with his massive arms folded under a scowl that seemed to say fuck with me at your own peril.

The girl told me that his shins were as soft as jelly, and if he was ever hit in his legs, it would cripple him; he was in constant fear of being challenged.

One night after drinking way too much and wanting more, I left the bar with Tom who knew a bootlegger who lived close to where I lived.

Close by was a storage plant for American Standard toilets and a 5 ton truck with the engine running outside the plant. Tom decided he wanted to steal the truck and I left him and walked home.

The last I saw of Tiny Tom was the driver of the truck climbing up to the drivers door trying to stop him as about 10 to 15 American Standard toilets fell from the back of the truck and smashed on the road.

“Stop! Stop!” The driver yelled. The truck and Tom jerked to a stop… A long time ago.

Dennis Mantin

Street said,”Trust fund baby makes 50,000 between the time he wakes up and the time he brushes his teeth.”

Trust fund baby said to Street, “You’re Street… aren’t you?”

Street smiled and said,”Why do you think that?”

“You carry yourself with an edge and a nervousness that makes one think street.”

Street smiled and said, “That’s funny… you carry yourself with an arrogance and naivete that makes one think inheritance. .”

Dennis Mantin

The protesters downtown are young white activists, mainly Male, supporting Muslims…

An old white guy with a huge sign condemning jihad.

A punk rocker who looks like he’s from central casting, with green spiked hair, shouted support for the old dude with the jihad sign.

The activists yelled, “Shame!”

It looks staged.

Videos and pictures captured their theatre…

Dennis Mantin

.

I stuff that shit down!

Bury it from the the light day…

Eradicate from memory.

Reframe.

Dennis Mantin

It doesn’t take much to throw me off Spiritually, mentally, physically…

A 3:30 a.m. phone did it this time.

Emotionally I just shut my mouth, put one foot in front of the other until bed.

8 hours sleep and back on the beam.

Dennis Mantin

I’m reading Bukowski and the 2 can’t be related however I receive a 3:30 a.m. call from an alcoholic friend who is on the edge of homelessness.

Life imitates art? I don’t know…

I remember the feelings of fear and loathing and need.

Not going back.

Dennis Mantin