W ELLIS MITCHELL

1 FEB 2010

GERALD X NW
WASH, DC 2000X

W ELLIS MITCHELL
Vancouver, BC
Or somewhere, N.A.
Or 1968 and Frisco, CA

Or at a corporate convention, stumbling in French
Amoung the easterners
Over Starbucks
Or Canadian sex--like Molson or Labatt's

Or wandering down climbed mountains
On skis
Like freedom
Or heresy
And high

Or writing half-thoughts or whole novels in little black books
To show off to no one or this or that girl
Behind the visitors center, the only place for blind kisses
Because it's tourism

Or scavenging in Safeway

Or conversing in Spanish
For hours
Because you found one Espan~olhablante
A man with a dark moustache
And a daughter
And a week's paid vacation spent talking
Around gringos
Or just Canadians

Or gazing on northern lights
How did you get so far from the city?
Pinks and greens of smoke trails across the heavens
I know why you want to cast your wristwatch off the edge of the world
And float up as an infant
Inhaling the cool aurora borealis
While the moon looks west
In mourning
Or to hide tears of joy

Or you're awake, still,
At dawn
Looking east
You raise your Nalgene flask to the clouds
To the snow, to the outdoors, to jealous loafers, to loved lovers, to the forgotten gray
To say "wish you were here"
To somebody
Almost like me.


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