POEM - The Alien Abroad

Everyone feels the need 

To warn you

How bad it might be

But it wasn't bad

Or maybe I just didn't notice

It is trying to shove the world

Into a box shaped like where you are from

That makes it bad

Because if they tried to make it work

Tried to shove my life

Into a box they could understand

Things would spill out

I opted to adapt

I the alien in the room

The stranger here

I'm the one doing it wrong

Not the billion other people around me

Even if I don't like it

Even if it seems odd

Their normal is right 

Right now

So the trip was wonderful

And I was the outsider

I was the anomalie

And I liked it

And nothing was the same

Different air in my lungs

Different water in the sea

Even things with the same name

Were different

Even me with the same name

Is different

POEM - Billy is to Blame

The reason I am this way

Has a lot to do

With the fact of Billy Bragg

The fact that Fletcher opened my eyes

And when he talks and sings

About "There is power in a union!"

How could I not think it was true

And Bragg is infectious 

Ringing into your consciousness

The feedback buzzes into your spine

As the hair stands on end

And he celebrates our Democracy

Becries our faillings 

And let's us know

The USA is awful big

And as goes the US so goes the world

I feel responsible

Inhaling a fight song

Digging with the diggers

Dressing like the Communists

Worshipping Woody

Fascists beware

The milk of Human Kindness

Will make us all a little better

POEM - Delays

It was hard not to run up to the podium

Jump on the offer

Change my flight

Get shuttled to another airport

Pocket the $500 voucher

And see where it all got me

But I know it would end badly

I would miss the connection

And a connection to Qatar

Is a connection you don't miss

So I sit

As they beg over the PA

"Just a few more"

"It's a great deal"

"We have another flight ready in CLT"

No

Sorry

I'll just sit here

Awkwardly stubborn

Longing to give in

POEM - Typhoid, Malaria and Curry

On the third day

Having fitfully endured the night

I no longer wondered what was happening

"It's the darn medicine" I mumbled

If it is this bad preventing typhoid

Just imagine what getting it must be like

And I was grateful

But not happy

That modern medicine could help me out

In a most unpleasant way

Maybe I should've just taken the shot

Sure it wasn't as effective

But the morning me didn't care

"I'm too old for this" 

Another mumbled thought

But I retracted that statement

Just as soon as I could

Because I wanted this

Or rather

I want the reason for it

A trip to India

Land of the bhut jolokia

And curry infinitum

And a big fancy visa

In my passport 

Obtained very late in life

This is making up for lost time

This is an experience

This is enjoying all of the little nuances

Good and bad

In sickness and in health

Till milaria do we part