Thursday, May 28, 2015

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

                                    


                                                            

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