me and odilon redon walking down a street
he says
you know that stuff with the molasses really works
i say
yeah?
he says
i got the best nights sleep ever lastnite
john erskine and isadora telambi walk in
she saying something in her native ethiopian
erskine cant understand
but man
isadora is so beautiful
its worth a shot
pretending you know her language
i guess
erskine
he aint looking bad for his age
hair a little thin maybe
a few too many late nights perhaps
god that magic circuit can be grueling
woman tearing at him to saw them in two
all those rabbits n doves to contend with
(nah erskine dont hurt his beasts
the same dove and rabbit for years
they seem to love ‘im!)
same olde routines
telambi catches sight of me
“ooh look whos been allowed out bibi”
she finishes every sentence with that bibi
is it baby or some african word?
her accent is thick and marvellous
she sings english in a low fluid melody
isadora not a door a…. i say
an isadora equals an adorer bibi
she says singing the line in fact
odilon this isadora telambi i say
odilons my new favourite painter ever i say
cmon steve mutters redon embarrassed
telambis a bit of an art buff
on both sides of the canvas
yes man ive hird of you bibi she croons
erskine gets back with the drinks
isadoras just fiji water tonight
erskines drinking the green absinthe in flames
odilons got a red wine
steve i got you a goji vodka molasses jaeger nutjuice shake
with ginger powder? i ask
you kidding me killer says the magician
no i aint …jesus..it needs the ginger powder to potentiate the..
you should coool out bibi
says/sings telambi into my face
erskine slops my drink down
just fuckin’ drink it killer
odilon laughs beneath his funny hat
cheers
yeah!
cheeers bibi
odilon did this amazing pic with pastel of buddha i say
i love buddha says odilon
yeah he aint a badde guy bibi says isadora
do you….starts odilon
no laughs telambi
most of us ethiopians are christians bibi
been playing any sax? i ask her
any what bibi she says
any sax bibi i say
its not bibi its bibi you clown bibi she laughs
yes i have been playing constantly since we last met
oh all kinds of things you know
rock revival shows in the states
african stuff you know bibi …tv
she played on remindlessness i explain to odilon
yes and got paid with only 2 joints and a taxi money bibi
says telambi
i wonder how old she is
anywhere between 35 and 50
impossible to tell
her skin is black and elastic
it seems impossible for it to wrinkle
it just stays smooth when she laughs
once we’d been real close
a long time ago
now she kept her distance
we argued a lot over the sax stuff
telambi threw one at me one day
and lemme tell ya it had hurt
she also challenged me to get even a squeak
out of her little straight one
whats that called?
im not a great sax lover to tell the truth
odilon redon says
whos that big muscly guy plays sax in all those eighties vids?
rafael ravenscroft? i venture
ever the font of rocknroll knowledge
yeah whatever says redon rudely
anyway
whatta joke you know in all them tina turna vids
that big guy honking his sax with his head thrown back
telambi frowns
why is this so funny bibi?
i dunno says redon starting to laugh
erskine guffaws n slurps on his drink
i hate the eighties he says
me too i say tucking into my cashews
i wander into the gents for a wee wee
paulie klee is doing a line on the counter
fucking hell paulie i say
killa he says standing up n patting his nostril
hows the impressionism paulie i say
i aint an impressionist…am i? say klee
whatever i say
i hate that says klee
what? i say
people who say whatever
he says
when i get back
odilon n isadora have gone off together
jesus i say
erskine stares off somewhere
get over it killa
he says
im over it
i say
completely