Jack Kerouac

 :smiling, shining, subty, singing

1            my daughter looked like a young Katharine Hepburn
2            at the grammar school Christmas presentation.
3            she stood there with them
4            smiling, shining, singing
5            in the long dress I had bought for her.


6            she looks like Katharine Hepburn, I told her mother
7            who sat on my left.
8            she looks like Katharine Hepburn, I told my girlfriend
9            who sat on my right. my daughter's grandmother was another seat away;
           I didn't tell her anything.


12          I never did like Katharine Hepburn's acting,
13          but I liked the way she looked,
14          class, you know,
15          somebody you could talk to in bed for
16          an hour or two before going to
17          sleep.


18          I can see that my daughter is going to be a
19          beautiful woman.
20          someday when I am old
21          she'll probably bring the bedpan with a
22          kindly smile.
23          and she'll probably marry a truckdriver with a
24          heavy tread
25          who bowls every Thursday night
26          with the boys. or it will be just a
 rude-dull man (9/10 mens are dulls)

27          well, all that doesn't matter.
28          what matters is now.


29          her grandmother is a hawk of a woman.
30          her mother is a psychotic liberal and lover of life.
31          her father is an asshole.
32          my daughter looked like a young Katharine Hepburn.


33          after the Christmas presentation
34          we went to McDonald's and ate, and fed the sparrows.
35          Christmas was a week away.
36          we were less concerned about that than nine-tenths of the
37                town.
38          that's class, we both have class.
39          to ignore Christmas takes a special wisdom
40          but Happy New Year to
41          you all.