Seth Troyer - Two Poems
ME AND JIM
Me and Jim have a thing.
Cricket fire east
We keep it to ourselves
There they are! Shouts on the wind. The enemy? No! Something more! Something more than an enemy
Port bow, bilge rat. I forget this language when you're on top of me
In our bunk bed world
They forced words it into our mouths and told us to swim
U.S.A
United, we are indeed
I'd be angry, if they had not led me to you. No war, no you. I suppose that's consolation
My brain has run ashore, sweetie! Ashore, ashore! Sure, sure! There is that language again. All ashore that's going ashore!
Cricket? East? I know not. The words came to me randomly, sweetie
Perhaps those daddaists have got to me
What are those things in the sky? Perhaps the dadaists or
Whatever they wish to be called
Have gone too far
I remember! They look like that exhibition we saw when we were on leave
The one where we smoked tea that you had hid in your sleeve
I hated those hipsters.
But here we are now. Look up in the sky! Look at that up there! Exhibition in the sky!
Dada, or god or cricket! What is it, honey?
Oh!
You put it on my plate just fine: The things from beyond are out there. They are Upon
Us
U.S.A.
U.F.O.
S.O.S.
Love of my heart.
They are amassing in the tender part
Across sky, across horizon
Line
Maybe they've been here all this
Time
You're getting better with your rhyme, sweetie, all the time sweetie. Don't ever stop. Don't ever stop, sweetie. But we can't talk of that now. For they are here. Up there!
Oh no! That's that! Here they come. Here they-
I hear they have one eye and many legs and many arms even though they are of little use to them.
They have invented this and that. They need no arms, no legs
But us, here on earth, we always will need them, arms for embracing, legs for walking, hands for touching,
Yes, touching. At night when the others fall into dreams. We have not invented anything better so it seems
Kiss me. A fine invention. Ingenuity enough for me. Here they come
Hovering this way and that way
Cricket fire east. A random thought as I see what i cannot
But as for me? I'm a simple sailor. I watch them glide in the night free of charge. Their light holds Jim,
And Jim holds me. Holds me back, as the sea rocks us both. We balance. We are balanced
We are Earthbound, I touch the milky way of your skin, Jim, as they flutter, confused, taking notes about what they've found down here
Soaring across our horizon
Line
Me and Jim have a thing
I won't die with our fingers unlaced
Let them see, as the lights flash
Flash bulb burst, close your eyes and we’re on the red carpet at last,
But no we're here, as this unthinkable thing occurs out across the
Sea, see, see, me as I see him. Jim,
I know you do. You do, I have always loved you too
Fingers laced
Yes, just like that
They are upon us
The things from the the stars
Your hand sweats in mine
I have always loved Jim
Hold my hand Jim, I don't care if they see, let the captain kill us, and set us free.
STATION
I should be down at the station
I hurry down, (out of breath) just in time! Here I am!
Who is this I
Rid me of I
I tire of I
Relieve me of this. I work there. Look! Me! A simple gas station attendant. Old fashioned I suppose. A simpletine…simple…tine
A simple tine from a simpler time!
Simple? Yes. Simple. A badge of courage for being such. People love simple
People are hungry for more than just food
They are hungry for a sweet and simple face. Keep it simple
Stupid
At the gas station. A good old boy like me, saying things like: “Fill ‘er up.”
Maybe that will ease such hungers? For the people and the cars they drive
They hunger for older days, when roads didn't splinter off. Mom, pop, tot, spot?
They do the driving and I do the “Fill ‘er up!” I make the cars go, so go then, fine by me.
But
The people
The people
Ravenous. Animals. I have read that we are all animals. Hungry, hungry, hungry. They stay hungry. They come everyday.
Come see me! I am an animal too. Lion. Wizard of Oz. Escaped from zoo. I would be so lucky to see you.
You.
Such a complex creature but I tell no one. That's my secret and secrets are things you say out loud. Simple, sure. Let me hide my treasures from you in this dusk world.
Dusk World. I see it in my mind on the cover of a paperback science fiction novel. One that didn't sell well. That's where we are. That's where I live. In there.
That's what I call it, the world I am in. My dusk world
No not duck world, you misunderstand me, I am not well spoken, such is my simple way.
Dusk. Not duck. I don't know why you thought I said duck (feather boat) guess I don't talk good.
Dusk not duck. All things move toward their respective night.
Not here yet? Getting there?
Are we there yet? No. Stop asking. Still driving. Still pushing. How much is left in the can?
The stuff in these machines. I sometimes wonder what's really in these pumps.
Will they keep yielding? What will they do when they come and the pumps stop giving?
They will stop coming. They won't see me anymore.
Never trust what you see.
Dusk World. A pet name for a world. As if I am truly familiar and friendly with it.
What? What of it? Babbling on. A simple one. Right?
I am here at the station. Rid me of I. Relieve me of this I. Who is this I? I write me on the back of a receipt a people used. It enshrined the purchase. Purchase what? Funions and bandages and of course
Gas! Gas! Gas! They say this stuff will end the world. But what do I know? I just work here. Right? I'm just here.
There I am. Enshrined on paper but, as always, I am quiet in gesture.
I find the receipts backside, the color of one of those snowy white owls that seem to only live in books. I've never seen one. Have you? I don't drive. I don't get out much.
Don't trust what I see.
I write me there. I write me. And then I take that lighter from the drawer.
Pink, blue, green, white, black. Choose one or I'll choose for you. I write me. And there is the flame over me, over that snowy owl receipt crying Funion bandage. I write me. There is the flame.
And I burn me. I burns me. I watch it go up, fade like headlights on the highway.
Dusk goes dark
Not duck
Oh, someone is here. Surely someone is.
Fire in my hand but I waive
I waive just the same.
Howdy stranger.
Fill ‘er up!
Send ‘er on ‘er way.
Wherever that may be
Fill ‘er up and send ‘er on ‘er way.
Goodbye stranger.
Thanks for passing through.