lines

don't know how i feel about dying
on a distant shore.the baltic sea 
where the thudding germans go.
does it matter tho:here or there i'll elbow
thru my poems like that old lady 
pushing to the front of the line 
at steglitz.

my weimar

a wheelbarrow full of poems
to buy a loaf of bread

markings

your lips are a tattoo of historicity,the runes
inscribed on your breast a linguistic monument.
when i feel your heart beat against my heart
i think in verse:raven's wings,a sound that sparks
an image:a v-slash against the sky.

northern poem

hanne,

under the sonne,walk
with me(and love:
the grass,the toes
that press against the grass),
moist.morning mist
and your breathing self.

berlin poem

berlin you didn't vote for hitler but you
are still married to him.berlin your parks,
flat like world war 2 filmstock,i expect a tiger
tank to clatter out from diorama trees.berlin
i don't blame you for pegida,plz don't blame me
for the drone wreck of amerika,the wedding/
funeral pictures,children dead(or alive
with death inside their eyes).

some berlin poems

your friend a pleasant old
fashioned flirt,unlike
anything we have
in amerika,our womyn
all tough until they're tender,our
men easily confused,your
friend pipecleaner thin,charming
in her summerdress,50
years old,still cute until
the talk turned
to refugees.

berlin poem

bewildered w/multiplicity i
turn off the tv
set.here in lichtenrade
watching 'berlin
tag und nacht'
admiring the writing
on the wall.a communist
graffito in my heart
prompts me to travel
east.when i met her
father he took me out
back & showed me
where the wall ran,where
the blood ran red.this
was early on & i took it
as a threat.as i take
most things.taking the x83
east to the s-2 thinking
about a new neighborhood,one
with ddr democratic
architecture tho i will
probably just end up
at the brandenburg gate
again.silly but this bookstore
nearby has a great selection
on east berlin.that's where
the dream of it all lives,on
paper,down the way
from the starbucks near
the u.s.
embassy.

some berlin poems

smoking cigarettes in alexanderplatz:

wondering which wurst
you'll bring home

which mustard:
the uncertainty of kraut

the only uncertainty:
i get to be

the moody one.
you get to cling

to me,
capuchin monkey.

here in a-platz smoking
cigarettes watching

tourists lined up
at the tv tower

up and down all day long
to look over a city

that isn't even a city.
berlin: an intersection

of neighborhoods,
interchangeable,

a legoland
of plastic pieces,

every street the same: a
bakery, eine apotheke

eyeglasses, a turkish
produce stand, but:

every cigarette
in this american pack

is the same,
too, and every cat

in the dark.


..........

when you worked at the food bank:

all that anger
pointed at you
because:

you fed syrians.


..........

i looked like a berliner before i got to berlin

that one thin reed of flesh
could hold this much bile: i've
been told i look with disdain
on everything i see: i fit in
with berlin.

PDX BundyGang Update

***update*** An hour later: Our numbers got up to around 80.  Did see one traitor rebel flag, in a pick-up with a U.S. flag. What's with that, anyway? Pick a side, motherfucker. Our side shouted things at them, variations on go home and leave our public lands alone.  They pretended not to hear, with their hands cupped up next to their ear.  "I can't HEAR you...I can't HEEEAAARRRR you."  Gavin Slime engaged in some public prayer and said a few words.   They put a tarpman voodoo doll up and black voudon clouds lowered overhead.  Then a heron flew overhead and Jesus smiled down and the evil spirits were frozen again inside their dildo simulacra.  Police presence is visible but fairly relaxed.  Word had it some Black Lives Matter got in the protesters' faces but I only heard tell of such things.  Such excitement was too much for me, so I left in search of snacks.

***transmission over***

Portland Public Lands Counter-Protest, 3-5-16

Back briefly from the Portland, Oregon, "LaVerle Finnamacher You're Name Will Not Be Forgotten" militiaman protest and snackfest.  I counted approx. 200 "patriots" in cowboy hats and carrying the misspelled LaVoy Finnicum meme blown-up to protest signage sign.  I didn't see dildos, but I'm sure I saw some Doritos.

Our side had maybe 40 folks. THEY ARE WINNING IN DOWNTOWN PORTLAND, PATRIOTS.  But "intel" from around the country indicates that we're winning most other places, with only a dozen or so "Steal Public Lands" protesters at various Fed buildings.

Things seemed peaceable enough.  They sent little toads over to our side of the street to get in our face and take pictures, but what the hell, we're taking their pics, too.  I didn't see any firearms.  Asked a Multnomah County sheriff and she hadn't seen any, either, which works for me.  (She's a real sheriff, by the way, so I take her word for it.)

They could out-shout us, but we had louder horns.  I'd heard they had Sho Fars but I didn't see them.  We had those loud plastic horns you hear at footie matches, the kind that sound like Glenn Beck farting.  Our horns were louder, so sho far, sho good.

I saw a lot of US and Gadsden flags, but no rebel traitor flags.  

They had been walking in circles around the block at one of our delightful downtown parks when I arrived and were singing one of those patriotic songs when I left, indicating they really do actually love America, I guess, just not its government or institutions or its rule of law.

Now for a quick snack, maybe pick up the items on my hold shelf, and back down there.

#OregonStandoff #TeamIntel #ReportingOut

***update*** An hour later: Our numbers got up to around 80.  Did see one traitor rebel flag, in a pick-up with a U.S. flag. What's with that, anyway? Pick a side, motherfucker. Our side shouted things at them, variations on go home and leave our public lands alone.  They pretended not to hear, with their hands cupped up next to their ear.  "I can't HEAR you...I can't HEEEAAARRRR you."  Gavin Slime engaged in some public prayer and said a few words.   They put a tarpman voodoo doll up and black voudon clouds lowered overhead.  Then a heron flew overhead and Jesus smiled down and the evil spirits were frozen again inside their dildo simulacra.  Police presence is visible but fairly relaxed.  Word had it some Black Lives Matter got in the protesters' faces but I only heard tell of such things.  Such excitement was too much for me, so I left in search of snacks.

***transmission over***