Tuesday, April 15, 2014

poem of the day 04.15.14


american confederacy embassy (liverpool)

standing there on menlove avenue
about a block from where john lennon dreamed the beatles
my wife and i are waiting for a bus
to take us back toward penny lane

when this old man tells us that there’s
an american confederacy embassy building still standing
somewhere in the heart of downtown liverpool

although he’s not sure what street it’s on
he thinks it’s near the slavery museum

i say, oh really? in an inquisitive way
but i’m not at all interested in seeing it

we’ve been in england less than a week
and there’s already been a mass stabbing in pennsylvania
and another mass shooting in texas

i can’t escape the savagery of america from across an ocean
so i don’t plan on seeking it while i’m on these shores as well

i wonder why the old man would think
we’d want to see something like that anyway

maybe we look primed for a good joke

the american confederacy was as much of a folly
as anything else produced in the united states

the edsel of self-rule

the old man takes my liverpool map
he starts scanning the streets looking for the place

i really should tell him to stop
but i’m too tired to tell anyone what to do

he seems like a nice guy anyway

he’s been to america
brooklyn, seattle, houston, and san francisco

so he probably knows how fucked up we are
how addicted to the bloodshed we’ve gotten

maybe if we met in new york
we could have a nice chat about the falklands

get those fine english hands a little dirty too

but i really don’t want to see some confederacy building
while i’m on vacation

i just want to get on and have the #76 bus show up
see some more beatles stuff while the wife and i are in liverpool

maybe where george harrison or paul mccartney lived

see some beauty, something positive
let the history of violence in america
wait until i’m back across that ocean

where the barbarism wafts out of every window

like the rich scent of dinner
on a humid summer night.

                                               

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