Gathering Place Poets

PETE SCHWEITZER

They may be viewed on this site only.

Permission to use any poem must be obtained

before it can be reprinted, broadcast,

or used for any commercial purpose.

contents:

Woman On A Bus

I sit alone

The way I like to

In a single seat

By the window

Sitting comfortably to one side

Of the stories unfolding

Before my eyes

Rundown hotels, pubs and pawnshops

Grocers, diners and downtown detox

A girl in shorts and pink high heels

Who are you

And where do you sleep?

And you, weaving Dervish

Drunk with your lot

Your paintings neglected on the sidewalk

The bus rolls to a stop
Brings a lapse to my thought
At the fertile corner of Hastings and Main
Swaying and groaning
Under the load
Of afternoon shoppers
Rushing in like foam
Over the seats and down the aisle
Their coffers filled with the smells
of Chinatown
And a chorus of new sounds
Thickens the air
Bees droning in a swarm
I cock an ear
To the pulsating rhythm
Of a land far from here

"Fucking Chinese..."

Like a blade on the tongue

"Look what you people are doing to us

Fuckin' Chinese..."

Hangs on her breath

I search the faces
For the disembodied mouth
See only a profile
Half a frown
Before she turns her raven head
All the way 'round

"We shared our land with you
And what do you do
Fuckin' Chinese
You take over
Fuck you"

Felled to the quick
The elders shift
Exchange knowing glances
Try to dismiss
This drunken intruder
In their midst
But the grandmother pinned
Across the aisle
Cannot escape
Being shamed and defiled

"Your culture is different
It doesn't belong
Fuckin' Chinese
Leave our land
And go home"

The old gray face
Seems to send me a plea
I instinctively rise
Offer to change seats
But she misunderstands
In her protective way,
Motions a matriarch
Into my place
Now I am standing
Shoulder to shoulder
Face to face
With the woman behind
The voice against race
She is tall, indigenous, a pillar of beauty
Her drunkenness makes her
No less attractive to me

"Fuckin' Chinese
You don't belong here..."

But the words languish
In her far-away stare
I look into the wells behind her eyes
Black pools of pain
Rage can only disguise
I reach out and touch her
Tell her,
I understand how you feel
But these people
They are not to blame
Like you and me
They just get through the days
Someone long ago
Caused you to be displaced
It was someone
The colour
Of me

Her body deflates
Beneath my hand
Racked with sobs
For all that was robbed
From her
Cry, I whisper, it's okay
Cry to wash your pain away
The community falls witness
To our embrace
I see they forgive her
Absolved of her hate
I tell her,
I used to drink
It'll all be okay
But she has scarcely begun
To sob in that gutteral way
That heals every corner of the heart
Like the sun
Does

Do you have somewhere safe,
Somewhere comforting to go?
She looks up
Wipes a hand across her running nose
Her eyes trust me
She tells me
I'm going home
We ride on in the silence
Of lingering sobs
Connected in another place and time
Connected with God

You are a beautiful woman
Don't lose faith
I want to take her face
Into my hands
Make sure
She understands
When at last her stop comes
She hesitates
At the door
Turns to brand her eyes into mine
Forever more
As she vanishes completely
Into the crowd
I long to run after her
Hold her up, proud

But I know I am only
A furl in the braid
Of a destiny woven
Day by day
I know I am only
A note in her song
A song of lament
That makes her strong
The woman on the bus
Lives close to me
I am comforted by her presence
By the emotions she freed
Sister I love you
Walk forward in peace

...It is only now
I have expelled this story
That I hear
"Fuckin' Nazi"
With all the horror
All the little white faces
Leering at me
"Fuckin' Nazi, go back
To your own country"
And I know
That the woman
On the bus
Cried the tears that belong
To all of us.

contents

Jazz Song

Acid jazz

Acid rain

Another café closes

Early morning dew

Spewin'

Starbuck roses

Cops on the beat

Where healers should be

Patti Smith grieves

I am coming to life

The city dies around me

One past forty

Only now getting free

Charlie spins the world

Twisted legs

Twisted heads

Charlotte is sacrificed

There's a hole in the web

Witches rise up

White tiger return

To Tibet

Rosa stops the troops

For a little while

A fully loaded bus

And an asshole with a smile

Marianne says goodbye

To that heroin and wine

And some workin' class

Heroes

Aren't for her

To divine

Forty past one

Sacred birth day to me

I am singin' the song

That Salvador dreams

It's not up to me

All alone anymore

I did not build the door

That keeps love

Out

So I open a window

And shout

Hey Mr. Tax Collector

Let there be praying mantis

And grasshopper

Let there be Beltane,

The Pagan rite

To choose your lover

In the heat of night

Let the cat eat the butterfly

Let me suffer

Let me cry

Let me wig myself out

Let me

Wallow in delight

I am one past forty

Light and dark

Black and bright

Alice through the looking glass

With all 'a my might

Jazz and punk

Fred Astaire

Tappin' Charlie Manson and

H A I R

Pepper spray and

Chocolate eclairs

Martin Luther King

And Hitler

Ecstasy

And despair

Forty past one

Purple haze

Marley's face

Get up, yeah stand up

Stand up and say

Ain't life a bitch

And ain't life a gas

Just the blues in the way

Of a jazz

Song

But I'm missin' you Janis

Wish you could'a got clean

I wanted you

To grow old with me

Needle gets stuck

Needle moves along

Needle keepin' time

With a Tom Waits

Love song

Forty past one

I accept it all

Still smokin' up a storm

Smokin' all night long

Picasso's twisted eye

Paintin' pie in the sky

John Lennon's penance

Jesus

Martyred on the cross

Give me a lonely saxophone

And some people to love

One past forty

Grateful I was born

Forty past one

Grateful when I'm gone

contents

In Your Face

I have been a cactus for many years

All horns and thorns and poison arrows

And a dusty flower on the wall

Hardly noticeable at all

I breathe a wind of static cling

Lingering

Near you

The desert is where I live

I seek among the barren sands

For my father's hand

What makes you run

When I let you know

Who I am

In your face

Like a man

I struggle hard to understand

Just what it is

That holds you back

Have I tried to be what I think you want

Or I am taking pains that I am not

Sprouting heads like Medusa

I scare you off

The way I blocked

My father

In your face

Fallen from grace

I forgot my womanly place

I suppose I drive you all away

With my eager game of child's play

So I crawl back

Into my lonely space

Without face

Subdued by the darkness

I am stunned by the starkness

Of me

And I'm just not sure

What you like

Dumb and pretty, coy, demure,

Dirty, sexy, or clean and pure?

Someone sweet to laugh at your jokes

Wrong girl, I'm

In your face

Like a man

Yeah, Okay, so I become a blonde

But even that doesn't fool you for long

It only makes you turn your heads

And tell me I have gorgeous friends

You step aside

I take it in stride

I know,

You like your gals

Quiet,

And I'm

In your face

Never had the grace

To know my womanly place

So I stare at the mirror

Real hard

And I confront my eyes

So deeply scarred

Is it

That I'm not myself at all

Or is mine a self

I could like quite well

If I didn't give a damn

What you thought

I have been so squashed

That I push and pop

Push and pop

Like a Jill-in-the-box

And you know

You cannot hold me down

Keep me hidden

Underground

'Cause I'll jump back up

With the silliest grin, and

I'm in your face

So fuck the grace

In your face

All over the place

I'm in your face

To tell you guys

I AM A SURVIVOR

In your face

By the holy grace

Of God