So, like everyone who has an attractive woman as an avatar, I get a lot of random mail on myspace. The great majority of it seems to be from people who lack punctuation or shift keys. Looking at one of these emails this morning it occurred to me that perhaps these men are not stupid and lazy, but are instead beat poets. How many different ways can you read this missive?


"how you i like to know you tony my name"

how you
i like
to know you tony
my name

how
you i like
to know you
tony
my name

how you
i like
to know you
tony my name

how you i like
to know you
tony my name

If you fuss with it enough it becomes like the love child of e e cummings and beat poetry. I am seeing open mid night, a hot, soulful young African American woman in a flowy printed top with a gold torque around her neck, short dreads pulled back from her face with a wide scarf. With her eyes closed she chants these lines, crooning, snapping a finger and stomping the opposite foot to keep time. Her face catches the glow of the spotlight while she, enraptured, finishes, in her smoky voice, "TONY....MY NAME." The house maintains an appreciative silence for a moment before a respectful snapping of fingers from the crowd prompts her to slowly open her eyes, smile shyly, and step down.