Movie's only got five minutes to go.
Figure out who all those strange people are?
Give me popcorn. Give me more and more popcorn.
The male lead claims romance knows his address.
I guess they film anybody these days.
There's a dying man under your seat,
please ask him what his take is.
You reach deep down into your pocket
and the Grand Canyon says hello!
Sacred tongues in every frenetic mouth
seek languages that might work.
The big golden road to opportunity
just had a breakdown,
its pavement buckled under from so much pressure.
The lynch mobs run out of quality rope.
In every fifth bag of treats
a snake awaits you.
Drama queens refuse to analyze your
lack of motivation.
The bathroom is only fifteen feet away,
yet you need a stretch limo to get you there.
Living is an ongoing rehearsal.
Most of us never remember the context,
but the text, oh my, my, my...
The dread in every stranger's eye contact
isn't too much dread at all, finally,
just overgrown children pretending to be responsible
hall monitors
of a decorum
that never truly lived anywhere around here.
Facsimiles of Utopia in every desk drawer.
Worn down myths huddled in the corner
trying to keep their sanity
send the ambidextrous people out for takeout,
the fugitive's moon
shines you home.
Nobody really knows anyone else
makes the pain of recognition democratic.
Just up the block
capable operators are standing by
to redress your scars.
Just tell them you're only passing through,
that the big game is still to be played
elsewhere
where the animals all sleep-in past noon
and the reaper
isn't so grim,
rather, he's just one of the boys
learning to
nervously
walk without training
wheels.
     listening to Gringo Honeymoon, Robert Earl Keen
     copyright the estate of Scott Wannberg

SCOTT WANNBERG was a Carma Bum, an avid reader, a prolific and often profound poet and human's human who never met a soul he didn't touch. Widely loved and published, Scott was a native of Santa Monica, California who exited much too soon in August 2011 at the age of 58 while living in Florence, Oregon. A book buyer and clerk at Dutton's Books in Brentwood, California until its closing in 2008, Scott received his Masters Degree in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University in 1977. The author of numerous books including The Official Language of Yes!, available for purchase from Viggo Mortensen's Perceval Press.