Prague

your castle looks over the city
a king's daughter prophesied
you're the city i came to see

you're a temple of God
you're a synagogue
a cathedral in progress
you're Prague
the city i came to see

you're a house of tea
you're beer-gardening
you're a speakeasy
the city i came to see

i sit outside of you
take in your beautiful view
and know your central sites
like i'm on the inside of the city
the city i came to see

you're a river bridge
crossed by music and legend
love and poverty
you're the city i came to see

you're a cemetery so crowded
you must give up your bones
they'll dance in the streets of the city
the city i came to see

there's a metronome
keeping your time forever and slow
as the angels look on
the city i came to see

the beverage on the right...

the drink on the left
contains zero calories

the drink on the right
contains 430 calories

the drink on the left
makes up 70% of the human body

the drink on the right
is 4.5% alcohol

in Prague...

the drink on the left
costs 40 kc (about $2.00)

the drink on the right
costs 25 kc (about $1.00)

the drink on the left
is water

the drink on the right
is beer

in Texas...

the drink on the left
is also water

the drink on the right
tastes gross
is a poor excuse
a cheap imitation
a rip off
a drug
and fattening

Paris via Portugal

July 6th, 2006

9:00 a.m. wake up in Santiago de
Compostela, Spain

12:00 p.m. walk to train station where
i learn that the ONLY train to Porto,
Portugal (the city from which i fly to
Paris) is TODAY at 4:30 p.m.

1:15 p.m. walk to park and have rushed
picnic with Brian

4:30 p.m. get on train to Porto,
Portugal where i meet Brazilians and take
in the Portugese countryside














9:55 p.m. arrive in Porto, Portugal

10:30 p.m. board the metro (subway)

10:43 p.m. get invited to a "Barbeque"
by 5 college freshmen (Ana, Zita, Ines,
Luis, and Dio)

11:00 p.m. get off the metro with new
friends and walk across the city to the
university campus barbeque location














11:30 p.m. arrive at HUGE party with
cheap beer...














cheap pork...














and live music by Supernada!!!














1:30 a.m. dancing to Supernada sounds

4:30 a.m. still dancing and meeting the
people of Portugal (instead of paying
for a hotel room)

4:45 a.m. start walking to train station

5:30 a.m. arrive at train station

6:00 a.m. leave sleeping friends to
catch the metro to the airport















7:00 a.m. arrive at airport

11:35 a.m. leave Portugal

2:00 p.m. arrive in Paris

afuera de un café cerca del catedral

the busker´s merry flute
plays lead to the chirping
of sparrows.

their song is interrupted
(nay punctuated!)
by a five-toll
of cathedral bells

the dishwashers join the song
with their away-putting of
plates and silverware

old men slap cards on table
just inside open window of
La Restaurante San Jaime



the youth clap in cadence
they sing Alle! Alle! Alle!
they´re probably dancing
up the Rue da Franco
i can´t see..

i hear...
the wind walking
(feet off the ground)
up and down the streets
and inbetween the leaves
on the shrubs of this plaza
it pops four flags
atop an ancient tower



i hear...
the trickle of peacful waters
circulating in the fountain




the man beside me smokes a cigar
i hear it!
i hear it crackle with his inhalation
i hear the smoke mingle with the steam
from my afternoon tea

the flowers are growing
in the mortar between century-
old stone walls
i hear the mortar bits bouncing
sprinkled on the cobblestones

i hear the pilgrim´s staff
century-old sound
resounding clonk step step
clonk on the cobblestones



i hear
hot
tea
between my own lips...



ahhh...

Catedral

weary of waiting
we asked for king
our weary senses growing
dulled to recognizing
his sucessors

weary of waiting
we made a god
just to bow before it
pay it visits from abroad
as pilgrims

four letters form the line
between idol and icon
i trust the good intentions
of those who lay the gold leaf on
iconographers

one body many parts
of my history that i loathe
i cross myself on my knees
make confessions both
to God and
to priests

London is

not tower
not tube
nor Trafalgar
not Thames
nor bridges o'er river
not Antony, Shakespeare,
nor theater
not museum nor music
not garden nor gallery
no restaurant nor headrest
not cathedrals nor Camden

no, none of these are London
but rather-

Yunus
Tom
Calypso
Luca
Peter
John
Dana
Miranda
Luke
Matt
Bree
Mia
Chris
Cat
Danielle
Jarrod &
Jen
Sarah &
Richard


thus...
London is-

Turkey
Wales
Greece
Italy
Poland
Texas
Canada
Germany
L.A.
& the U.K.

yo soy el disco vinyl

i fly
as record-turned-frisbee
from London's busy hands
into the seated lap
of Tiago San

his finger applies pressure
to my grooved surface
revolving 33 times a minute
my black stallion song
in a single second
is whoa'd
reined in

33-28-21-14-8-0
silence...
stillness...

his gentle voice comes to me
from the rest he's entered
...commune.
...celebrate.
...rest.