the first time i went to chicago
was also the first time i took an airplane
to anywhere else

then i went to new mexico for two weeks
and didn’t take a photograph
of anyone

after that i went to venice
and walked around the city alone
in november in surprising heat

i have been to a lot of places since then
to new york toronto los angeles and more
cities that looked alike and different

when you peeled them a little
i don’t take pictures of anyone
prefer to hold them quite still

i’ve not been to most places
don’t dream of going anywhere
don’t dream of seeing anyone

some would call this being depressed
or down or in a slump or the like
i call it what it is to me

cities of my world
behind barriers like a wall or a sword
of fire or nothing like those at all

rain on the edge of my world
a storm going away
what your world offers is unkind

i sit here and recall
the guggenheim museum in dorsoduro
workers doing the dead parrot sketch

from monty python in acoma pueblo
and i sit alone in a hotel room somewhere
where it doesn’t matter

where i could still be an optimist
or a doomsday prophet
or both at once

it doesn’t matter
none of this matters
i close here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
onward,
T