kerouac says

i went to midnight mass with the monkey and the best one. and i got the giggles, bad. it started when the priest began the homily with,

"AWESOME!

what would happen
if we could look at the story of the birth of christ
and say that it was truly

AWESOME!"

and then he paused, and just as i was thinking, is he trying to reach the kids, here, or are we looking at a more straightforward definition of "awesome," free from contemporary connotations?

and then he said,

"YES, AWESOME!"

he delivered the whole homily as if it were in free verse--very measured, very grand, lots of pausing. it was designed to impress.


WHAT

does god want

from usssss?

WHAT

can we learn

from thisss

story?


and at one point, the best one whispered in my ear,


I AM

the great

and powerful

OZ.


and i lost my shit. apparently i succeeded in keeping quiet, but the pew was shaking something fierce. i hope everyone who was disturbed by my disturbance ended up forgiving me; a few pew neighbors were markedly cold during the kiss of peace.

it was a good christmas.