Quite a dilemma Gary. I confess I didn't quite 'get' all of it, but some
parts spoke loud and clear. The various references to 'the tourist' and to
'tourists' was a little over-confusing for me, but as I say, some elements
were spot on.

Cheers,

Frank

The Tales of Faust poetry page can be found at:
http://www.hotkey.net.au/~flp/F_index.htm




>The Tourist
>(in the style of Marvin Bell's Dead Man)
>
>1.  About Visiting Port Townsend
>
>The tourist drifts down Water Street
>    past dead shops, wine shops, cheap leather shops.
>The tourist is upset the new age-mystical-any religion represented
>    storefront is in flashy new quarters.
>The tourist prefers his crystals in the dark.
>The tourist moves past vanilla ice cream and gray pilings to Twigs,
>    but Emily is again in London stealing uniforms off the Buckingham
>    Palace guards.
>The tourist, hungry, looks across the marina to Otter's Crossing,
>    full of tourists, the otters, having left for Chimicum, no longer
>cross.
>Tourists, the bane of the tourist.
>The tourist, cross, drifts off Water Street, west to Washington,
>    where the scent of shavings, recycled oil, and dry books will assault
>    his nostrils.
>The tourist, hungry, has lost his car.
>
>2.  More About Visiting Port Townsend
>
>The tourist is hardly a tourist.  He lives at Four Corners between
>     otters and crossing, in a house once painted blue.
>The tourist's house is orange, or at least appears orange, or at least
>    appears orange in the light of summer, when the tourists come.
>The tourists take pictures of the orange house.  When the pictures are
>    developed, the house is yellow or green depending on the light.
>The tourist thinks the tourists should pay for the pictures.
>But to collect, the tourist would have to stay home.
>But to collect, the tourist could not tour Port Townsend.
>But to collect, the tourists may ask the tourist questions
>    about why bedposts are planted in the front yard,
>    bicycle frames in the side,
>    and strainers hang in the cedars in the back where the tourists
>       can not see them.
>The tourist hates to answer questions, which is why when asked
>    directions to Port Townsend, the tourist gives directions to
>    Quilicene.
>The tourist needs to find his car.
>But to find his car, the tourist would have to ask questions.
>
>
>
>Homepage: http://gardawg.homestead.com/homestead.html,
>Submissions: http://www.writershood.com/index.html
>
>Poets for Peace.  ˇPoemas sí, balas no!


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