how to eat an ice cream cone

lick the dome all around and only bite if it's purely instinctive.

when the dome is licked flat, bite off the pointy end

usually found at the base of the cone and eat it.

adroitly, bend your head backward and suck the remaining ice cream

through the opening which you've created for this singular purpose.

eat the cone.

1.  It’s a quiet morning.

the usually cranky crows are nowhere to be found

and the neighborhood dogs seem to be napping.

2.  last night I stepped out for an ice cream cone where a speeding

four-door sedan on Essex Street nearly ran me down. It was a close call.

I should follow my instincts and stay put, but––

I haven’t had a chocolate ice cream cone in a long, long time, so

I strolled over to the ice cream parlor for a lick-able ice cream cone.

3.  walking home, I licked the sweet, chocolate ice cream

from its dark, brown dome and licked the base of it as it melted

downward from the cone's rim, holding the cone as Willie Mosconi 

would hold the wrap of his pool cue,.. the one with ice in its veins.

It's here that the opening at the base of the cone is introduced.

4.  now tell me again why life is not worth living.