"you sit down here and play with your jimson weed. look at them chillen playing in the branch, if you got to look at something. how come you cant behave yourself like folks." (the sound and the fury)

how come indeed. it's no good to read faulkner sleepy-eyed. i swear a body half needs to be hopped up on something to give proper attention to those kinds of words. what kind of words, D. says, or would say (i head you off in advance, here, baby). words that could slip by like they were regular. a clause like "if you got to look at something" which could be just a normal thing to say -- but then of course unless you're blind or sleeping you do have to look at something -- and maybe if that wasn't the case all this wouldn't strike me as being the best words in the best order, the top of my head coming off, guts wrenched and recollected in tranquility.

and just in case you're wondering, jimson weed ain't just a river in egypt. turns out jimson weed, from the genus datura, comes with a warning. it looks like this:

CAUTION: All parts of all Datura plants are poisonous and can be fatal if ingested.

makes you wonder.