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Heading to Denver
walking down a peaceful street
the shops are closed and you stare at the riches of the
new world’s empire
you cut and slice neatly and the delicacy with which
you eat the newly found aspiration
the dreamer’s eyes watch you
the muse you never mind
it doesn’t matter if it was so yesterday
now the dandelion fluff has reached you and I know you will
know
I will know when you kiss the newly starched paper
and the smudge of your lipstick
I will know it
I see you there
the beads clink in your hands
you put down sterling silver earrings
you trace your fingers over the rings
you wear them one on each finger
I watch your face
and your hair all around you I watch the glitter
vanish
even if your eyes are shut I know
the postcard and the stamp speak of somewhere far away
you bite the frankfurter and lick the ketchup off your mouth
you walk down
over stubbed out cigarettes
the stones of the street tell me of another day
when the city was crowded
I see your eyes as they look at a temple
on a highway
I see you running down the up escalator
never quite coming
and I stand there
the serenity of the beach sun setting and the hammock
and your smooth skin
and your glossy lips
I wait
and when you look at yourself in a bathroom mirror
the hair tousled and your glasses
making you look like some retro freak
I know who you are
I watch you walk down and I know you’re gonna turn before
yes you have
you sit opposite your mother
and you watch the people walk outside
you watch the twenty-first century girl in her raggedyshirt and chain jewellery
and her hoodie boyfriend
you want some dosh
grow up child
you’re a wild child in a wild world
that hasn’t woken up yet
but you’re gonna wake it up
even as you stare at the girl across
and your mom reprimands you for keeping your mouth
open too long
like woahh what is going on
but you were just tired
you slip down and hurt your knee
you can feel my kiss on your cheek
and something tells me
I know you
your unbidden soul
I know who you are
you don’t ever need to tell me
you can listen to music
and ponder as you write this poem
pausing to think
don’t show me what is right and what is wrong
I’m past caring about that
for now it’s just
we are part of peace
you want to cut out the pictures in the magazine
but you haven’t got the scissors
she pauses in her homework
then forgetting why
then remembering she gets her scale and slowly draws a line across
the room is silent
she looks around
it’s empty even with her in it.
she wanted them to do this
she wanted her to do this
but it didn’t work out
and when she apologised she listened
and she said it was alright
and it was
you want to be someone you never knew could exist?
well let me tell you something
and no this is not another cliché
if you never knew yourself could exist
then why are you asking me
who you want to be?
yes this is poesy
that is what we say
we can put on our top hats
we’re gonna go home plop them on the stupid coatrack
it’s gonna be a TV session now
ah the damn TV it ain’t got nothing worth seeing
so when she starts tickling his chin
he’s sound asleep
I think this is it
I think this is where transition happens
I think it’s time
yes I gotta go now
life is calling where are you? – yeah I remember that from an ad
au revoir.
2 May 2005
bravenet.com