For G. & M. K., & fellow travellers
1.
I travel incognito in an
Englishman’s “Chinese delegation”
with a box of Belgian chocolates
& a leather-bound journal from Florence
that you can take home with you.
I know it seems redundant
going to Bruges, but I’ll let you know
that the box & journal will never speak
of the green upon green found living
along the Rhine. Where Prague’s forest,
once claustrophobic, disperses
into that same greenery.
2.
I’ll also let you know that receiving your
pre-packaged blow of home-grown intellect-
ual decay post-September 7th on
the grounds of Sachsenhausen could not
compare to the melodrama of
a quick fuck in a shower
stall, before coming down
& hitting bottom that same morn-
ing en route to Amsterdam. All of us
having stayed up, scattered across
Berlin before, like well-learned
children, making our way back
with alternative versions playing
at slippery nerve ends.
3.
Or that coffee
pot enjoyed
just outside
Dutch canals.
4.
After talking at you for two days,
using your man-deodorant
& toothpaste (I’ll send you
those photos I promise).
Now back to Florence: Firenze’s
hospital fresco was inspirational
5.
enough—
& Rome was
good & all (if
you’re into that
kind of thing).
But it’s Vienna,
that overnight
train arrival,
that you
cannot beat.
6.
I’ll ride
the circle
just once
to you
with this
circus where
7.
the mucus breaks & I bleed
for the first time in two months,
realising this was
a healthy thing to do.
You start when I finish & I
take off with egg in my hair,
knowing its okay.
We’ll meet in two weeks
where we can do it
all again.