poem of the day 05.28.15

chinese tourists at the berlin wall

they’re teenagers maybe

close to teenagers

the boys look like girls look like boys

but there isn’t an adult in sight

at bernauerstrasse they’ve kept a large piece

of the berlin wall standing

there’s a museum that informs you

about the dead zone and the patrol guards

there’s a memorial to the ones who died

trying to get across to the west

but the chinese tourists don’t care

they’re doing cartwheels on land

where blood had been shed and neighborhoods ripped apart

doing jumping jacks and taking selfies

flashing the peace sign

i don’t know if this is incorrect behavior or not

what passes for immodesty in the year 2015?

is it even right to single them out as chinese?

at the world trade center memorial in new york city

you can buy hats and t-shirts with 9/11 on them

you could almost buy a cheese plate of the united states

with three holes cut out where the planes hit

but someone got wise

you can still buy coffee mugs

and keychains though

i’m sure american kids take selfies there by the dozen

inside the berlin wall memorial store

they have bookmarks of the wall

you can draw your own graffiti on them

tag that gray concrete like a regular banksy

maybe the teenagers will buy them

because every time one of them tried to write on the real wall

they chickened out

took another photo instead

i know i’m going to buy one

because i like to bring back small things from my trips

i’m going to leave mine blank

i want my berlin wall ominous and threatening

not covered with batmans and gorbachevs

political messages or i love you notes

i want to keep the fear real

for as long as i can

soon i’m going back outside

to take a selfie of my own

maybe with a piece

of rusted barbed wire

or those chinese kids

somewhere behind me breakdancing

And....another short one:

american girls

at the east side gallery

like like you know like

sorta like oh my god you know

like seriously like yolo you know

like whatever like like you know

drink on like um yeah like you know

like like like sorta hashtag app

like like you know oh my god

like whatever