IX
The Lemonade Man
The sun shines on an oil slick at the bottom of the reservoir
But a new wind is rolling slowly in from Rome.
Don’t lift it, don’t turn your nose up in bigotry. Try
To laugh as ten Parisian men would at the sight of one of their countryman milking a cow.
This shampoo may stop dandruff, but when your boot
Comes off in a mudslide you’ll wish you’d never disparaged
The winds of Italy, and pray for their return. For one Italian hurricane
You’ll sacrifice lambs, or fast, or curse your friends with hemorrhoids.
When I met him, he was girlish, but now he’s older and a pacifist.
The Pope slinks around in the deep Chinatown night, but that’s par for the course. At his age, it’s not unusual
To want to tie-up any number of sticky murders. “How many have I drowned?!
Will they ever stop haunting me? Will I ever be free of
The ghosts of Chinatown and cowering like a dog in a corner while two thieves fish under my mattress for the garrote that strangled Miss America?
The police file on me stands as high as eight short men! I murdered the mayor!”