rb: one story and one poem

since i've been back, i've been finding out some very nice things about richard brautigan. one thing i found out was that he did something funny:

after a reading, several people came up and asked him to sign books for a man called beef, who was a big fan but couldn't be there because he was at work. he signs the books and a few months later he gets a letter from beef with beef's appreciation and telephone number. richard calls him--"turns out, literary folks in lincoln are having a party at beef's apartment. beef thinks it is a practical joke but is finally convinced that richard's voice is the original article, and asks r. to talk to others at the party which he does for an hour on his own dime, portraying beef as an old friend, genius,a nd all around great guy."

and then i remembered this poem of rb's i made into a terrible painting when i was very young:

insane asylum
part 8

baudelaire went
to the insane asylum
disguised as a
psychiatrist.
he stayed there
for two months
and when he left,
the insane asylum
loved him so much
that it followed
him all over
california,
and baudelaire
laughed when the
insane asylum
rubbed itself
up against his
leg like a
strange cat.