Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Mere Mirror



I wrote this ditty around 40 years ago and recently rediscovered it.  The questions remain but answers are elusive.  I still get a funny feeling when I look in the mirror.

          Mere mirror on the wall
         
          Who is he      
         
          Looking back at me?  
         
          And also, tell me true,
         
          What does he ask of you?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

At First Sight



In January 1999, Terri and I were married by Travis County Justice of the Peace Scott Davis in his office in a strip mall off South Lamar.  A few hours later we were headed to Italy for our honeymoon, my first ever trip to Europe.  We've been traveling ever since.
_____________________________________________

Finish stuffing more things in our suitcases then drive over to the JP's office. Wait in line behind someone paying off a traffic ticket, noisily and reluctantly.  I do, she does, we're married.  Rush back home.  You have the passports?  The cab's here.  Off on a honeymoon:  Austin to Chicago, Chicago to Milan, Milan to Florence.  Almost 50 years old and at last I would see Europe.

On the flight across the Atlantic, free Champagne, Chablis, claret, port, Italian beer, grappa.  Delay at Malpensa.  Too much booze.  Too little sleep. Too much excitement. Everyone speaking Italian.  Weird bathrooms.  Don’t understand the food.

For almost fifty years, thinking about Europe, longing for Europe, desiring Europe, craving Europe, the center of my universe, literature, art, music, philosophy, history, everything led back to Europe.  At last to replace countless imaginings of Europe for the simple physical sensation of walking down a cobblestone street.

Tired, hungry, hung over, disoriented, but I was in Florence, of all places.  My first meal of real Tuscan food, at Mama Gina’s in the Oltrarno.  Then sleep, not sleep more like passing out, in our hotel off the north end of the Ponte Vecchio.  No more dreams of Europe, no more anticipation of what it might be — look out the window and see it there below, open the window and hear it and smell it.

The first morning, in the hotel breakfast room.  The coffee is different, different food, how does one eat this? and all around us are windows and beyond the windows are red-tiled roofs and steeples and television antennas and laundry hanging out to dry.

After breakfast, out into the streets, awake now and not hung over and marveling childishly at every sign, every passerby, every moto speeding past, the food in shop windows, fragments of conversations in another language.  People going to work, greeting friends, talking on cell phones, setting up stalls in the markets, narrow streets and narrower sidewalks, and here I am in Europe stepping around puddles from last night’s rain.

We went into a tabbachi to get stamps and postcards.  Ten minutes, so many cards, we must tell others about this place, how many stamps?  Oh look at this one.  How about this for Momma?  Your parents would like this one.  Here’s one for the kids.  Fumbling with lira, how many thousands?  Thank you, grazie, and back out into the street.

Still fumbling with the bag of cards and stamps and change, oddly shaped brightly colored bills each one with a bit of Italian history engraved thereon.  Stop for a moment, crowds jostling by, let’s stand here for a bit until we get it all put away.  Look up again, turn the corner to the right, and there it is.  I stop.

The Duomo.  I see it with piercing clarity, my mind willingly, forcefully ignoring all else.  Awestruck, speechless, I stand and stare, trying to take it all in, wanting to stop my life and the world then and there, freeze this second, forever be here facing the Duomo in this exact moment.

But the world does not cooperate.  The sidewalk is crowded, someone needs to get by, a tour bus pulls up and blocks the view, we must start thinking about lunch, the moment is gone.  Or is it?



At First Sight

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Scenes from My Playlist



While YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT, it's also true that YOU CAN GET IT IF YOU REALLY WANT.  Me, I WANT IT ALL NOW but I'd settle for ALL I NEED.

I admit, I'm ADDICTED, but at least I'm ADDICTED TO LOVE.  Really, every time I turn around I'm BACK IN LOVE AGAIN.  DO YOU LOVE ME?  GIMME SOME LOVIN'!  WILL YOU LOVE ME TOMORROW?  If not, where I can find some LOVE FOR SALE?

I'M A MAN.  Since I'M THE MAN, I'd be lying if I said I'M A WOMAN.  I'M TOO SEXY.  AIN'T THAT PECULIAR?  I guess I was BORN THIS WAY.

The animal trainer boasted to the circus audience, "I can make this BABY ELEPHANT WALK!" but they were not impressed.

COME AS YOU ARE when you COME AND GET IT.  Afterwards, you can COME GO WITH ME.  Or DON'T GO, whatever.

SHAKE YOUR GROOVE THING, SHAKE YOUR MONEY-MAKER, SHAKE IT UP.  If we can GET THE PARTY STARTED there will be a WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN GOIN ON.  When I was younger, I could SHAKE IT ALL NIGHT but now for my SAFETY DANCE is not such a good idea.

I love DANCING IN THE STREET but unfortunately I'm usually DANCING WITH MYSELF.

TAKE ME TO THE MOUNTAINS or TAKE ME TO THE RIVER, we can even DRIVE MY CAR, just get ON THE ROAD AGAIN and take me to the LAND OF 1000 DANCES.

Excuse me, the phone, it's LONDON CALLING.  HELLO IT'S ME.  MY NAME IS JACK.

STAY.  STAY AWAKE.  STAY UP LATE.

MY BABY.  MY GIRL.  MY WIFE.  MY GUITAR WANTS TO KILL YOUR MAMA.

WALK HARD.  WALK LIKE A MAN.  WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN.

LIVING DISASTER.  LIVING FOR THE CITY.  LIVING IN A MOVIE.  LIVING IN THE U.S.A.

WORD UP!

If you'd like to leave a comment, please incorporate titles from your own playlist -- thanks!