The Scottish Exodus
Have You Seen Me? (For Grandpa Tazzia)
Did you see me
last night
flying over the ocean
with my feet
skidding on the
clouds making puffs of
dust fly up from
my heels
did you see me
Because I slept
fretfully like a person
caught in the checkers
of a plaid shirt
I slept only from
Gatwick on and
even that was
nothing
so when I woke
everyone looked the same
but they all had
accents
Baird Hall
ruined Deco paradise
parasite
curved shadows on the
wall always make
me prefer original paint
and death doesn’t
settle so well in a
stomach coated with
Mandarin sauce
Have you seen me
stumbling about Glasgow
sitting today with
Andrew doing
exactly as I said I
would at the Court Bar
having my first whisky
amongst the red brick
and the town Titans
the lame-legged double
fister who props his
cane against the bar
stool holds his glass
out for another and says
please I’m almost there
and the resident Bar
Slut Eve-Godiva
handed me the
key to the restroom
and showed me down
there where there was
no one
but a bunch of velvet
seated stools standing
like wooden octopi
Tonight
the laundry didn’t
work so well
there was no
final spin and the
other American from
North Carolina
asked us to the bar
and Andrew said
No
and we came upstairs
for more laughs
for more page turning
of the tour guides
And even though
I didn’t cry
for you
and I haven’t cried
I feel like we’ve
pulled through our
journey together
You stayed alive
just long enough for
me to be born into
another womb
and my entrance
made room for your
exit
and we weren’t crying
for each other
or trying to reach out
instead we crossed
hearts in the night
our veins brushing
opposite wrists
and we stayed awake
during the journey
because there was
too much to miss
otherwise
Copyright İAndrea K. Devenney, 2009, all rights reserved.