Day 43: Phoenix UPDATE! More from Phoenix From the Arizona Republic From Stamped and Metered Flying Fish **** On the way to Phoenix from Gallup, we stopped the bus for a bathroom break in Arizona at an ostrich farm off of old Route 66 (now I-40) where Gazelle, the kinky haired proprietor, told us the bathroom didn’t work, but we could look around at the ostriches and feed them if we wanted. Gazelle looked seriously at me when she spoke, probing my face with her deep brown eyes. “Everybody’s a poet?” she asked. “Yep,” we said, “everybody’s a poet.” She walked us over the ostriches with cups of grain pellets. If you don’t know, feeding an ostrich is like sticking your hand into a ceiling fan, if the ceiling fan blade looks like Burgess Merideth. We timidly fed these creatures and they nipped at our hands with their bony beaks and rolled their eyes back into their heads as they did it. Can you feel me shivering? “How fast can you run?” Gazelle asked me. “Pretty fast,” I said, shaking scattered pellets out of my hair. “You wanna ride one?” she asked, “I have a saddle that’s perfect for your skinny ass.” I looked around at all the grinning poets and then I looked at the bus. Did I want to ride an ostrich? “Sure,” I said, “I could ride an ostrich.” “Well, if you fall off the ostrich they will peck you and kick you until you’re dead,” she said. “Dead?” I said. “Dead,” she said, “you got anyone back home who can bury you?” “I think so,” I said. “Well okay then,” she said, “come on” and we walked over to the adolescent male ostriches looming with their gnarly heads over the chicken wire fence. “You just hold tight around the neck and if you fall off you gotta run as fast as you can away from them,” she said, “ or they will kick (here she mimed kicking) and peck (here she mimed pecking) you until you are a dead one.” I thought about it a little more and began emptying my pockets of change and pens. I took my hat off and my sunglasses. “I think I can do it,” I said. All the poets had grins stuck on their faces. “Are you sure you want to do this,” Matthew asked. However this happens, I thought, I’m going to get hurt. “Sure,” I said, “it’s okay.” “Okay?” Gazelle asked and grabbed my hand. “Okay,” I said. She looked me in the eye and held it for a moment. And then she started laughing. “I can’t let you ride no ostrich,” she laughed, “an ostrich would kill you.” I looked up at one ostrich head bobbing over the fence and then I read Gazelle a poem. I think she liked it okay.

7 Comments

Comment by Jon on 10.17.2006 5:52 pm

Oh my goodness. I miss that bus. I miss that stupid bus like a lack of holes in my head.

How come you don&;t have any ostrich stories from Boston? Much love to all the bus-tronauts. Hope you&;re doing well.

Comment by ???? on 10.17.2006 10:14 pm

What? No comments about the actual show? Where did you read and what was it like? Was Phoenix that bad?

Comment by jj on 10.18.2006 5:17 pm

Ostrich burgers aren&;t that good, you know? Gamey. Better ridden than eaten I say&;

Comment by Mom on 10.18.2006 9:52 pm

shared the ostrich story with the high school teachers&;.will use for personal narrative lessons&;too funny&; we could do ostrich stuffing for thanksgiving&;

Comment by Liz on 10.19.2006 1:18 pm

Travis, can you hear me giggle? One day when you are on baby poet&;s thesis committee and he has an ostrich in a poem, you can say, &;I&;ll tell you a story about an ostrich&;&; But, the kid will already know that story, and actually the ostrich in his poem will be a nod to your story about your ostrich.

Comment by Arthritis Remedy : on 10.26.2010 9:59 am

ceiling fans are great for cooling a warm room with large area. i prefer them over multiple desk fans,-~

Comment by Job and Career Forum · on 11.13.2010 11:47 am

7 blade ceiling fans have much better performance compared to those three bladed fans &;

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October 17th, 2006

Day 42: Santa Fe Day 44: Roden Crater