He drove a white van with a dent in the driver's side door. A dent like a meteor crater. He was stopped in the intersection, mid-turn.

A man unlike any I have ever met. A man who would block the intersection just to get my attention. A man who knew that I was important.

He was whispering sweet things. He was telling me how much he loved me, in simple fragrant words that soothed me as I stood on the sidewalk, waiting for the crossing light to change. He said I was the most beautiful person he had ever seen, that I was wonderful, that I meant so much to everyone on this block. Then the passers-by looked to me and smiled too. The man who was stopped in the white car behind him rolled down his window and waved. The woman looking out from the apartment across the way lifted her cup of tea. I took in the soft encouragement and hardly even wanted the light to change as it slowly blinked, a red hand keeping me here a while longer, asking me if I'd like to stay, and I did.

Th

The first collection of the poems of archy the cockroach, introducing mehitabel the alley cat.

"expression is the need of my soul
i was once a vers libre bard
but i died and my soul went into the body of a cockroach
it has given me a new lease on life"
— archy himself

The poetry of archy the cockroach was unleashed onto the world in 1916 through the pages of

you can trap them

lure them in with fickle things
money clothing false promises
until they believe they've made the right choice
they'll walk in willingly and lock the door behind themselves
and they'll be yours

or you can suppress them

if you have the system in place to do it
there are cultures that believe in arranged marriages
political marriages a joining of two houses