1 January 2025

I'm cold

but

I'm sweating 

 

Jeff’s in Amsterdam

Al’s in Portugal

I’m in France

Christ they say

was born thousands

of years ago

so we drink

and eat too much

I knew a guy

who went from Paris

to Amsterdam to buy

a bunch of cocaine

for his 70^th birthday

brought it back

and died of a heart

attack

 

I know this road

but driving in this fog

anything could happen

the horses graze

the hawks prey

the sky's dead

people are cooking

and the river floods

every year now

Next week’s winter

still autumn grass green

not growing

almost Christmas

a market in the village

people smiling

coffee at the cafe

the Cevenole know no

less than the seasons

praise the Cigales

when they return

November 2025

Back in France after six months

in Andulacia it is cold the earth

is brown the sky is gray the leaves

smell dead and except for wind

silence I am another year here

what I think matters little now

 

Terminal two Lisbon

Amsterdam by lunch

what changes where

one of those portraits

of some one you don’t know

on a wall in a cafe

could be Lisbon Amsterdam

one of those portraits

of some one you might

recognize from Lisbon

Amsterdam

 

Saber sold hot dogs

on the Nieuwmarkt

lived across the street

couldn’t read

a little guy who brawled

in the red light bars

a daughter in The States

got him to Egypt ignored

his constant calls back

saw him last at the Zeepost

wouldn’t look me in the eye