Hi Gary,
After reading the footnotes (extra comments you've made to folk this side of
the pond!) I can now see more happening here.
Writing poems with such specific senses of place is risky (I know! I've run
the risks!).
Here, tho, I'm wondering who the writer is... (OK, I know it's you - butwhat
would be different if I read from the poem's title, for instance, that the
narrator was an astronaut in space, a tourist, an illegal immigrant, an
Islamic hate-the-US-terrorist, a five year old child, or whatever). If the
narrator is stronger in the poem - and it might still be Gary, but Gary with
something going on in his life! - it might chance the way the poem ends...
Bob
>From: Gary Blankenship <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New: Once Upon a Time in Mexico
>Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 09:32:19 -0800
>
>Once Upon a Time in Mexico
>
>Why is Miami the color of eggs
>fried over-medium and Colby cheese,
>and not of South Beach discos -
>pale turquoise and peach
>washed with mold?
>
>Why is Vegas the color
>of Dollar Store Christmas lights
>and tie-dyed mustard
>instead of back street casinos in Reno -
>purple chips floating in the bottom of a pool
>and day old buffets?
>
>New York fades into LA,
>Minneapolis slides towards St. Paul,
>Seattle remains gray and moss green,
>a coffee-laden cliché
>that'll never be mistaken for Nogales.
>
>Every small town seems painted
>with the same palette -
>a mix of Wal-Mart,
>McDonald's,
>7-11,
>Castles -
>A and W orange now a pho shop,
>the 88 cent store an antique store,
>its goods made mid-90's.
>
>I would return to the pure tints of Jalisco,
>to melon daiquiris,
>outlaw iguanas,
>butterflies and parrots,
>to baby turtles struggling against the tide;
>but I'm as gray as the sand at Wash-A-Way Beach,
>as stuck to place adventureless
>as a clam in Mukilteo mud.
>
>Dry river beds fill with condos
>and cross walks
>the color of ruptured tires
>and snow piles in the mall parking lot.
>
>Dolphins split the Sea of Cortez,
>gray whales stir Banderas Bay;
>Fargo is
>and Tacoma.
>
>Writer's Hood, the best poetry on the web, at http://www.writershood.com/
>Poets for Peace.... ¡Poemas sí, balas no!
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