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