Poetry from I’d Like to Bake Your Goods

From Paris

June 30th, June 30th

for Richard Brautigan

It is June 30th 2004,
or as the French would say

The thirtieth of June, two thousand and four
but in French

The Eiffel Tower and the moon
make a nice pair

I’m rediscovering carbohydrates
like Sherman Oaks is going out of style

On French TV, a cereal box with eyes
lives in a pineapple house under the sea

We live above a giant train station
with tunnels that could take us clear to seventeen-eighty-nine

We take a trip on a night boat on the river
I sleep through most of it

but am awake for dessert an hour later
Profiteroles and Berthillion Ice cream

I am concerned there are two many L’s
in the name of that ice cream

Today we will meet the Mona Lisa
I doubt she will remember me

Luggage Siblings

It’s so cute that we have matching suitcases
I wonder if they’re married and that’s where
our smaller luggage came from.

P.S. Our backpack was adopted.

From Rome

At the Arch of Constantine

for Brendan Constantine

I thought of you
while standing under Constantine’s Arch

The ancient Roman’s saw you coming
two thousand years in advance

“Some day a man will come” they thought
“whose words will charm even the Vestal Virgins”

It’s no wonder the Forum is surrounded by Greek columns
The Christians tried to pull them down with rope and faith

When they failed, they simply put crosses on top
and called it a day

I wonder if I tied a rope to your head
would I end up with a new synagogue

I stand under your Arch
surrounded by white noise

and you with the weight of the Empire
wrapped around your head like leaves

Tired

Addie has had enough of ancient Rome
and as far as she’s concerned

all the Empire’s problems could be erased
by one scoop of Gelato

It’s seven thirty pm
The Pantheon stands erect.

From Venice

Some Thoughts On Modes Of Travel
And The Travel Industry While On A
Boat From St. Mark’s Square

for Derrick Brown

1

Boat drivers stand
which makes it a different experience
from car drivers
who sit

2

When an airline purchases an airplane
from a manufacturer of airplanes
is the plane delivered or is it picked up?
In either case, who pays for the airfare
to either travel to pick up the plane,
or travel back home after delivering it?

3

Gondolas are black
and all the gondoliers have big muscles
because they spend a lot of time
gondoliering

4

I know a man who lived on a boat once
and at a different time was also a gondolier.
Some day, I think he’ll move to space.

From Los Angeles

Los Angeles

I scrape the last whiskers of Venice off my face
watch them swivel into underground Sherman Oaks

Where they go from there,
I do not know

Maybe the ocean
or a place where such things are investigated.

The mosquito bites are fading
along with the memories of canals and cathedrals

I rinse the blade
The honeymoon is over