1 Starting Point
you lean against
a doorway
& draw your cigarette
three times
before exiting
the frame
you're now
located in a car
which screeches
round a bend
in a flash of silver
2 On Tour
you take bus tours
& 'scenic trips'
& make friends
with the land
its green hills
& deft trickle of river
you become slow close
you can even
speak the language
as you leave
"I'll record it,"
you think
but which scenes
you forget ...
3 The Discovery
it's night
& you whisper in
her ear,
"everything's fine"
as you lift the sheet
to find her curve
& you want
your words to touch her
in a way your hands
never can
4 The Return
you park the car
& the boot pops open
several men with bags
scurry across the pavement
& as the light
replaces your shadow
you reflect
on the journey
how it takes you
& how it sets you back...
5 Voyeur
"this is upside down,"
you think
& replace the slide
the projector makes
another click
& then 'you see
for yourself'
how the circumference
of her shadow
leads in
toward her legs,
breasts and thighs
& how they arc
toward you
6 Dispossession
there's a video
it's stored
in your baggage
& is damaged -
her eyes tell
the story -
it's the way
she scowls at the room
& there's the whack
of the type-writer
& Mahler
or
Brahms
turned up