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Tourists Often Stop, by Jenny Bornholdt
Oct. 5th, 2005 04:22 pmIF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE TODAY, READ THIS POEM.
I found this online earlier and decided I had to post it here, since it'd be such a mission to type up myself- it's quite long, so most of it's judicially lj-cut, except for the beginning and my favourite bits. Really, you should read it all the way through: it's stunning and awesome.
Tourists Often Stop
Tourists often stop and take photographs of the red hot pokers at the bottom of our drive.
They get up close to the splendid display, focus, bend their legs slightly and brace for the snap.
Japanese men take the photographs home and show them to their friends.
This is the woman I fell in love with over there they say.
Unfortunately her mother is dying and she cannot leave her.
American women take the photographs home and show them to their friends and say this is a man I fell in love with over there. We were on a bus tour together. It was his second time and he showed me all the sights. He was a real dag. We had a real fun time. His name is Reg. We are planning an underwater wedding.
( Man Looking at Trees )
A Woman Walks
A woman coming up the road walks as though she is always looking around a corner. The expectant angle of her body suggests that something is about to happen. She is obviously a woman with a history of events — here she is prepared for the next one lying in wait for her.
Tree Like a Tree
In one corner of the courtyard there is the suggestion of a tree.
If the tree had branches it would be tall and leafy and birds would sing in it, but the branches have been chopped and from the trunk come short flat-topped stumps, stopped in mid air.
There is the feeling of a tree going places. The sky around it makes way for the possibility of branches. The word almost is in the air.
Trees in America
American tourists walk down the road and look at the trees in the park. Wow. Wow. I can see them say.
There are no real trees where they come from. In America they pay people to dress up in outfits with trunks and branches and as you walk past the trees say 'howdy' and shake your hand.
( Near Misses )
--By Jenny Bornhaldt
I found this online earlier and decided I had to post it here, since it'd be such a mission to type up myself- it's quite long, so most of it's judicially lj-cut, except for the beginning and my favourite bits. Really, you should read it all the way through: it's stunning and awesome.
Tourists Often Stop
Tourists often stop and take photographs of the red hot pokers at the bottom of our drive.
They get up close to the splendid display, focus, bend their legs slightly and brace for the snap.
Japanese men take the photographs home and show them to their friends.
This is the woman I fell in love with over there they say.
Unfortunately her mother is dying and she cannot leave her.
American women take the photographs home and show them to their friends and say this is a man I fell in love with over there. We were on a bus tour together. It was his second time and he showed me all the sights. He was a real dag. We had a real fun time. His name is Reg. We are planning an underwater wedding.
( Man Looking at Trees )
A Woman Walks
A woman coming up the road walks as though she is always looking around a corner. The expectant angle of her body suggests that something is about to happen. She is obviously a woman with a history of events — here she is prepared for the next one lying in wait for her.
Tree Like a Tree
In one corner of the courtyard there is the suggestion of a tree.
If the tree had branches it would be tall and leafy and birds would sing in it, but the branches have been chopped and from the trunk come short flat-topped stumps, stopped in mid air.
There is the feeling of a tree going places. The sky around it makes way for the possibility of branches. The word almost is in the air.
Trees in America
American tourists walk down the road and look at the trees in the park. Wow. Wow. I can see them say.
There are no real trees where they come from. In America they pay people to dress up in outfits with trunks and branches and as you walk past the trees say 'howdy' and shake your hand.
( Near Misses )
--By Jenny Bornhaldt
