Wednesday, June 25, 2008

waxed paper

speaking with strangers and slipping back

into the voice you’d put away

because no one would have understood

a thing you said

but just now

on the roadside

it was unusually clear

no halting pondering

everything

hamburgers and pink lemonade

waxed paper and bacon with no bones

speaking with strangers

and slipping back home

©German Diary 2008

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2 Comments:

Blogger Bobby D. said...

This is very sweet. You're going to have a great summer, you two!

2:22 PM  
Blogger Ralph said...

It may be that I'm reading more into your poem than what you mean it to say, so with that caveat, here are some associations I had when reading:

-"Slipping back into the voice..." You can speak much more easily with others, and enter into conversations with strangers, now that you are in an English-speaking country again.

--"No halting, pondering..." No hesitancy when facing unfamiliar foreign social customs and so on.

-"pink lemonade waxed paper and bacon" Things seldom seen in Germany, at least as used in America.

Note also the verb "slip" with its various meanings. Moving quietly, cautiously, sometimes stealthily. "To slip away." Also in the meaning of being freed from a restraining leash.

Where you would say your center of gravity is--in New York State or in Cologne, or in both places?

We've had some torrential rains in the Bonn/Cologne area since you left. But it's also shaping up as a good growing season in our garden, so when you return you'll probably be pleased to see your own plantings.

Best regards to you and HH and wishes for a safe return.

11:23 AM  

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