Six Nights on the Sun

By Al Ferber

The massive hallucinatory nightmare flashed in fragmented strobe light fashion in his mind, before his eyes, into his ears as sonic booms, shot out through the ends of his fingers, bubbled up in his mouth and down his throat, in what they call “the suicidal delirium tremon dance”. And he danced it straight through its burning end. And out into the scorching world for another lap around the track. And then some.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664195097

Al Ferber

Al Ferber a septuagenerian going on 13. Born. Regrettably… A North Philly kid. Survived education at Temple U., Penn State, Villanova U. Alcoholic 30 years. Sober 23 years. Indenture servant to Catherine the Great 34 years. Learned to love and appreciate cats and one dog. Authored 30 books of poems, 2 novels, 3 chap books. Poems in Magazines in U.S., England, Scotland, France. Still alive, on the downward path of the sliding board, as of this writing. An undocumented alien in the world. Resides Ocean City, NJ surrounded by water with Cathi, Luna, Mitzi, and Opal. So there.

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Copyright © 2021 by Al Ferber.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover art by Al Ferber

Rev. date: 10/15/2021

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

834564

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Dedicated to Cathi

Elements of a Life - 1

Please be Patient

Counter Clockwise

An Unexpected Life

Elements of a Life - 2

Carpe Noctem

Elements of a Life - 3

Birth Life Death

Tinted Windows

1968

Getting My Story Together

Compassion

Odd man out

Dumpster Of Forgotten Dreams

Into The Mist

Somebody Else

Social Discourse

Disintegration

Packing Heat

It Never Happened

Trouble

Cracks In The Sidewalk

Six nights on the sun

Drunk living

Fear & Rage

Walk Away

Missing Persons

Snapshots

Perfectly Sad

Rough & Tumble

Mea Culpa

Fire Alarm

Parrot Shop

Most Prophets

Skull No Crossbones

Drunk like me

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Many of these words first appeared in Mangle-zine.

Reproduced here with my permission. Al Ferber, editor

and publisher.

DEDICATED TO CATHI

my wife

higher power

honey bunny

best friend

gate keeper

sparring partner

soul sacrificer

multi tasker

and benefactor

crossword

jig saw

and human

puzzle wizard!!!

ELEMENTS OF A LIFE - 1

Gus said the first major

breakdown

happened

in the fall of 1970

not

long after graduation

from Temple University

not long after

having the fate of his family

put upon his shoulders

in the middle

of the Selective Service

System’s five

year pursuit of him

followed by four years

in the healing of him

gone to tatters sunk

beneath all reason

beyond

all optimistic blather

PLEASE BE PATIENT

If I have neither

offended

nor alienated you

as yet

please be patient

its first come

first serve

COUNTER CLOCKWISE

Gus said the hands

were

spinning

in reverse motion

the time was swinging

round

in contradictory circles

dancing in opposition

to all