We Have Art, Nietzsche Said, So That We Shall Not Be Destroyed by the Truth
I.
the first time frank called me
it was to say he wanted to buy my land
and began unfurling his plans
to start a canine center a dog track
and an indoor water park
you wouldn't think he said
that water parks are a gold mine
but waters parks are a gold mine
look at wisconsin dells
you ever been to wisconsin dells
see so you know
that's where the professional athletes
and their kids all go
frank could have been an NBA player
if it weren't for his frigging heart
he could do a left-handed layup
make a basket from downtown
he wanted to build
some other kind of theme park too
not sure what yet
he lived in and worked out of his RV
debt-free thank god
I'm just like everyone else around here he said
I work I've always worked and if I didn't
pops got the belt out and beat my butt
I'm not afraid of anything
say I got into a fight with a shark
sure I might end up with a colonoscopy bag
or whatever but I'd fight a shark
I'd say bring it on shark
anyway
pops died just after the soviet union did
II.
the second time frank called
he said through bites of apple
it'll be done the right way
once I buy your land
I'll dig up all the fieldstones
it'll cost a couple of g's
there must be 99 thousand rocks
in your fields
rocks mud and flies
how do you people live like that
he said I'll hire five hundred people
and grease the politicians
they'll say
oh frank I know him frankie owns blue earth county
I wanna do business with frank
or whatever
I'll say to the politicians here what I said
to the politicians in bemidji
guys I got a hypersonic jet in duluth
what do you got around here for an airstrip
politicians can hook you up with movers
you don't know how to shake
III.
the last time I talked to frank
he came at me all nostril and horn
what do you mean you
don't want to sell your land to me
you haven't even heard
my other theme park idea yet
frank and I were sitting in baker's square
he was scraping off the whipped cream
from his french silk pie
you ever been to universal studios he asked
they recreated dinosaurs freaking out
over earthquakes
lava and whatever running down their legs
because of the frigging volcanoes
which got me thinking
I'm gonna dig a bunch of trenches and I'm going
to teach people what their great-grandparents
or their great-great-grandparents went through
during world war one
trench warfare and shell shock so when you
go down into the trenches it's gonna feel like
you're being attacked
I'm talking bombs cannons tanks mustard gas
and it'll feel real trust me because
the trenches will be shaking
and then
there's going to be a laser light show
I can't believe you're saying no to this
in the end
frank ate the scraped off
whipped cream anyway
he said I think pops
would have liked my idea too
I still always kinda miss him
