The List
You get to hear about
Bucket lists
All the time
Around here
And they say it like
They invented the term.
So they tour like desperate
Folks. Old folks trying
To get it full
A bucket full of foreign cities.
Walking on canes,
Wheelchairs, walkers
Hobbling along
Seeing this and that
Filling their buckets
As if their life will fill
With this:
Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallin
Riga and Berlin
Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
They fill their buckets
Like Egyptian Pharaohs filling
Their tombs for their time
In the next life.
Sea Story
The North Sea, just its name reads
like a caption in a history book:
a seascape of crashing waves, one
of those wooden ships, full sails
sailing into a troublesome future.
The North Sea, sounds like an entry
in an immigrant’s journal, the feel
of loneliness and an unknowable
future. The North Sea, even today
seems like a summary of a climate
we all have to face along the way.
The North Sea all around us and
ahead of us, greeting us like it
greeted so many before us, a sea
untamable that we all will face.
Tour Guide
How do you explain a place
You know so well to people
Who know little or nothing about
You or the place you need to
Explain. It’s a job, it’s your job
So you begin. There’s history
And all the details that set it
Up, the forces, the personalities
This war, that occupation, but
You notice the group start to
Doze off. These aren’t students
These are tourists, who yawn
At things they don’t know. You
Can pick out important sites or
Start off on the nature and how
It fits this place and people. You
Can talk about the economy or
The social systems that you know
They know little about, education
Media, the military if you must
And the various religions that vie
For prominence in a country not
Known for its religious traditions.
It’s an avalanche of material with
Little appeal. It’s an audience that
Pays a lot but wants very little. It’s
A job and you do and pretend that
Somehow it makes a difference.
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