Orbit Skate Center

The floors of the Jefferson Building number an octette,
with the penultimate floor as the vertical destination.
The floor's only attraction,
an office suite at the corridor's termination.
The Rock Detective Agency, Joe's substitute shrine.
The transfiguration of a dream divine.
The skate along the floor to the office door,
a common uneventful chore.
Else where, this day would produce its' roar.

Remove the City Flyers, turn on WTMX,
for the hits of the eighties and nineties,
Which was sure, to turn on; outer office histrionics.
Standing on a stool,
the ideal punishment tool.
Charlotte's insightful convention,
has been replaced with a modern invention.
The outer office has to be taught a lesson.
It is strictly forbidden to change the office P.A. station.

Blondie was assaulting the air with, "Heart of Glass."
Upon turning from the window's panoramic view.
There in the doorway, a panoramic lass.
Something of which Buffalo Grove has quite a few.
A modern Brunhilde to give just due.
The outer office light, framed the pinched waist silhouette.
A silent tribute to a Torso Rotation Machine's quakes and quivers.
This svelte brunette in an elegant blouse of marquisette.
She was nonpareil, but the queue was unvetted.

 

Heart of Glass cont'

On the trail he had seen her before.
At the top of a hill sat a maisonette,
which housed this stainless steel riding soubrette.
The décolleté blouse, with her queue,
tossed haphazardly over its' shoulder.
This created a sense of mystery and wonder.
The City Flyers below the moquette culottes,
only heighten the curiosity.
The skates provoked no comment, a curtsy,
to the formalities of courtesy.

At the invitation to enter,
the brunette took a seat, after executing a dazzling pirouette,
and ending with a featly fouette.
She ad curvaceous panache, and not just a dash,
All of which established, she was no grisette.
As unorthodox, as it may seem,
it gave visual pleasure to the extreme.
Even for a seasoned private eye, this was a dream.
Blondie was muted; as he faced the skating queen.
What was the problem, for this, would be skating team?

She had a voice that reminded one of charlotte.
An illusion so strong, he wished for a serviette,
to occupy the hand which was not recording,
this tale of tragedy on the trail.
The request for aid was reinforced with refulgent smile.
Against fate's will, he would do more, than just rail.
Stainless steel wings upon the trail for miles,
until the search prevailed.

Out upon the trail she had lost a ring,
Could he retrieve this golden thing?
It had adorn the queue on the trail, this morning.
After the skate there was nothing.
The results of her frantic searching,
produced not the longed for; belonging.
To under take this quest would be a kick.
Searching the trail was just his lick.
The assignment; a pandoran pick.

Some skate to find a dream.
Others skate to forget a queen.
All looking for the pathway,
to the place where they are keen.
For some queans, all pathways are unclean.
However for this distressed lass,
he had a Heart of Glass.
The skate would last,
until her grief graced a fourchette,
and the sorrow; was a thing of the past.

Exposito

Charlotte Any of various desserts usually made by lining a mold with cake or bread and filling it with fruit, whipped cream, custard or gelatin.
City Flyers Panterrain skates with patented cushioned rollers in various configurations.
Culottes Women's trousers cut full to resemble a skirt.
Decollete A low necked garment.
Dramaette A poetic drama.
Featly Gracefully elegant.
Fouette A ballet step involving a swing of one leg with a snap at the finish
Fourchette French for fork
Grisette A working class girl
Ides of April The 13th of April, also Thomas Jefferson's birthday.
Leno Weave A weave structure in which paired warp yarns are intertwined in a series of figure eights and filling yarn is passed through each of the interstices so formed, producing a firm, open mesh.
Marquisette A light weight open fabric of leno weave
Nonpareil Having no equal; peerless
Octette Any group of eight
Pandora In Greek mythology, the first woman, created by Hephaestus and endowed with every grace: out of curiosity, she opened a box and released all the evils that plaque humankind.
Penultimate The next to last in any series
Quean An impudent woman; hussy
Queue A braid of hair worn hanging down behind
Serviette A table napkin
Standing on a stool From Charlotte Bronte's; Jane Eyre
Svelte Gracefully slender in figure
Torso Rotation Machine Gym fitness equipment for building and shaping the internal and external abdominal obliques, thus resulting in an hour glass silhouette
Unvetted Not appraised, unverify, unchecked for accuracy

Obiter Dictum Heart of Glass is the denouement of a mythical Mickey Spillane (1918-2006), (Michael Hannmer)/Richard Wagner (1813-83), (Der Ring des Nibelungen/The Ring of the Nibelung) collaboration. Given these ingredients, this dramaette could produce nothing less than an epic adventure and there must be a tragically shattered heart somewhere along the way. This however is only the opening chapter of the Joseph Rock Detective Agency saga. For more, see the poem; "Rock..Paper..Scissors."

Addendum: I must apologize for the lack of direction in Heart of Glass. Artistic control was always an issue, given the trifecta of egos that were involved.

Semper Idem,
T. Edward Black
The Ides of April '04