Haibun 196

keeping yourself a secret from yourself

i was on my way to los angeles from milwaukee. i stopped in to see a friend in the suburbs of chicago. her father was a great guy. he had a large backyard and smack in the middle of it was a flower bed where he grew weed. he took me out back to see it and kept saying ‘dont look at it’ the neighbors just think i let the garden go and have no idea what kind of weed it is. inside the house he had a bookcase that was made of wood slats with antique coffee cans. there must have been two dozen of those cans in all and each was filled with weed. really good weed i might add. i asked him what he would do if one of his neighbors figured it out and called the cops. it was the sixties after all. he said no problem he would just plead ignorance and tear it out with apologies. he was a rather respected guy he said and they were sure to believe him. (i thought to myself if they find it outside why would they not get a warrant and search inside. experience teaches you to have these thoughts) yeah i said that is kool. we smoked dope all day and i left in the early evening for los angeles. dont know because i lost track of his daughter but he may have actually pulled it off. i hope so. he was after all a respected guy.

the voice 
of a turtle
punctuates a dylan song