When there could be tropical beaches
Even with the flattened stock image
Of fortysomethings having a giggle
Him, with his pants rolled up to bottom of knee
She, with her colorful loose fitting dress
Picked up by the salty ocean breeze
More real is the pant leg
Walking past a suspicious bag
Left on the ground
By whom?
That is the question it begs
Everything filled with purpose
But if that were the view
Head placed against the floor
You might be getting pinned by the cops
Passed out drunk on cheap whiskey
In which case
Why would you say anything at all?
Then there is papa
Joyous over the arrival of his newly German wife and child
They are all German now
Now that they live in Germany
Because daddy has to wear a suit
At least for this one moment
And as the plane makes its way to the gate
Daddy is overwhelmed with happiness
But hiding it extremely well
In the way he does
With calm and cool and collect
Which helps him look good in his suit
And land good jobs in Germany
Papa has a plan
Let's hope it works out
He certainly has a close shave
Like a blanket of safety
The island you live on
The area where you work
The surrounding radius
As far as you can see in a rectangular snapshot
Fading into the peripheral
Are banks
Or their robotic representation in ATM form
Shining like beacons
Like Batman signals
Shot into the sky
Or at least from where you're sitting
Which is a powerful place to be
Floating in some ethereal tunnel of light
Aware of everything
Especially the right bank to choose
Faded into the peripheral
Are other possible beacons
That don't matter
Because your tunnel of light
That phosphoral blue dream
Is all that matters
It's honing in on Holbrook
I wonder what's happening there
Probably another ATM
Sometimes if you squint
You can remember or imagine
That time and place
Where people were color
And shape and dimension
Something to notice
Responding to instinct
As opposed to
Living out the storyboard
Of some underpaid hack
With a pencil and a marketing degree
There once was a market
Where people sold things
You would go there to buy things
And be sold things
And after that
You would leave
Or if you didn't want to go
You just didn't
--
3.26.09
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