the cities of the city

(0)

trips. and more
trips.
when on my own
then i float
on the waves of the human ocean
rhythm. rhythm.
my own.

(1)

Rick rents a car
i don't bother
let him choose and drive me
to small family restaurants
to cowboy stores
to get the packs of Coor's beer in large bottles
and to hotel
and to work

i am in a cowboy state
a country life
where
even the mechanical horses smell

(2)

another trip Gary
drives dr lee and me...

i don't choose the satisfaction
of renting my own rental car
paid by the cheap tax payer money
instead
i'll see another city
thru another man's eyes

big Gary is driving dr lee and me
the lanes merge will it be
the other car or we five inches
one one tenth we win long live
rental cars big Gary choses
a restaurant where if you eat up
a five pound beef you get another one
for free Gary's too old for that and
looks at me. no. we
simply order the three
of us and the two
of us drink Gary the driver and me

then we pay and...

(3)

long hair unshaven i scare
women at work when i walk by
after five you'd think this is
a safe place where you must have
the security clearance but
they don't know me

and neither do managers inside
the super-secret room they get
out of the room from time to time
to ask dr me and dr lee
simple questions

'cos for that fuckin' fee any john
can have that fuckin' brain of mine
i charge like a fuckin' pimp
and never let it come

and never let it go
and never let it come


(4)


we went to the restaurant late
we ate and drank and paid and...
we went to the piano bar the guy
knew two
of the russian songs i named
a few more drinks and i explain
the workings of america
the colorful churchcutting grassgoing color
minorities and bums italians blacks south
americans and who knows who else
who make america bearable if not exciting
and the church goers grass cutters wasps
who work and keep america going but boring and then
a clean polite guy two barstools away from me
introduces himself as representing that boring majority
i sober up and feel like an ass
i end up singing anyway
in english
my own lyrics:

bu-
tterfly time was
nice
but
didn't buy
much now
yooo
put me down
'cos mine
bu-
tterfly time is gone

people laugh at me straight in my face
a woman runs out of the restaurant
without paying
another
sits next to me and likes me
if i shaved and cut my hair
i would be to her
transparent like air
in a busy garage structure
she's tall and royal and old
her complexion and her dress
make her look homeless
but she invites Gary lee and me
to her place

(5)

Gary drives
the rented by taxpayers car
we could save gas
we could breathe into the engine

now we enjoy cold drinks
in her spacious and dark living room
the married and religious Gary
the very chinese and divorced lee
and the forever separated me

royal her
strokes my hair
i royally
allow her

Gary looks at the woman
the woman looks at me
i look far away
and nobody cares about lee

she went to the kitchen bar
Gary grabs her breast o Gary
what a vomit i thought
i knew you the woman
gets up you want to play it this way
ok put down
two hundred the going rate
right on this table
Big Gary is so small now he fills
the air with words
wobblingly driving back
to civilization a few more
minutes she is tired yes Gary said
let's retire and they do
dr lee and me talk a little and hear
her bird calls thru the wall
dr lee would like to find a girl
but worries about his money

dr lee
don't ask me
have no fear
play by ear

Gary comes back zips
his pants under his beer belly
and offers gentlemen the bed
is warm if you reflect
dr lee shakes politely his head
i don't bother
i though Gary i knew you
now i know a little more

we drive to the airport

(6)

the window shutter half-down
i tumble down the road of sleep
away from the city ahead of the plane
towards the black ocean and now
carried by waves of indefinite color
rest
me solo sea solo

wlodzimierz holsztynski ©
1995-August