Wednesday, June 04, 2008
The Tropics
Every summer I learn the constellations
over again. Like tonight
I thought hey I’ll camp out, let
the white light of stars
freckle my forehead. And under the mesh
of my tent I think all sorts of things as I ogle
those way-out stars. Where I’ve been lately,
and how I came to be here now. This is
the Dominican Republic, this New Amsterdam. This
night a dark little life
I live all alone. In a tiny little hut made for
Tiny Tim or a wonk or someone who’s eaten
way too much chocolate and has no business
with a notary license.
Yes I do swear
to tell the whole solomon truth and
bull-riding and fireflies and glowing juice
and where we’re at in America these days.
And this guy with a shirt on says Real Environmentalists
Don’t Eat Meat but I can’t quit meat.
What is it that I’m good at, and
what am I not good at. What’s smoky, what’s fruity,
what do I like and what don’t I like. What counts as a
long session of anything and have I ever had one. How long
have I walked compared to others and how much
money have I made and when can I quit this big quiet disgrace
that I wipe from my face every day, trying to stay clean,
thanking God, thanking Sirius and then Betelgeuse. Seeing
that I’ve got a short night and a long drive. Unfortunately with these gas prices
a drive. But until then, the night, the music, the nasally laugh
from a site over yonder. And the crystalline light of requiems still
burning like rain forests in the tropics. Oh, who doesn’t
want one more life?