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NauenThen

Spain Poem (part IV)

IV. Famous for Oranges & Women


do you need to know every thought
      between every thought
          between doing & being

Alisa squirts tomato all over Robyn
      I eat cheese, olives & an orange
          it’s gone from 16°C to 21°C

not only do I not know everything
      I don’t know simple, basic, useful, grounding
          facts

who’s that actress? what was she in?
      who wrote that book
          what’s-its-name?

hilly rocky little trails climbing
      tunnels galore my ears pop
          I have looked out the window 4 hours

next station Cordoba
      boots of Spanish leather
          cordovans made from horsehide

Is it one’s fault if one doesn’t wish to try?
      what if one’s taste is for high culture?
          the more you drink, the more I steal

Robyn is hate-reading
      about a self-described iconoclast
          “so I can’t have snacks right now”

a dog in a park could be in Spain, New York, or —
      a dog can bark
          I am the woman alone

I am alone in Seville. I do & I don’t
      vant to be alone
          I am not alone

Alisa & Robyn want to eat Galician octopus
      I want to eat bread
          food makes me nervous

The bathroom of death has claimed me (concussion)
      & Robyn (bonked when the shower holder snapped)
          be careful, Alisa!

later, one wonders how one thought of it
      or was brave enough to do it
          everything narrows unless one cartwheels

hitchhiking was what we did
      the same people who called us brave
          called us foolhardy

2 sleeping friends
      a day at the Alcazar palace
          old dojo gossip

Alisa’s friend ate a lemon poppy muffin every morning & failed a drug test
      the ironworkers would quit if they had to take drug tests
          I was smoking pot before you were born

Seville is full of KKK figurines
      nine-oh-nine-oh-nine-oh
          everyone danced & everyone danced

“I am not of this world”
      am I still breathing?
          “ask me how I gave myself a black eye masturbating”

Lady of Spain I adore you
      “she did swing dancing at her wedding while the groom sat with us”
          Alisa talks to everyone

Irene & James of Cork in Seville for the day, the German sisters
      Plaza de España not the 15th century but 20th:
          would an architect know that?

botany: a woman’s science
      Seville: a dream I didn’t know I had
          may I carry your hat?

the drawback of 2nd class: the train is going backwards
      is it possible I belong elsewhere?
          what was the emergency in the Pyrenees?

this week we are free
      of riots, eldercare, earthquakes
          even bad poetry

agricultural between Seville & Madrid
      I would rather know everything than be a specialist
          I need a t-shirt with oranges. I am not a painter

the view from the Hotel Inglaterra, the view from the Parasol
      I like to be high
          what will I eat when I live here?
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