so unlike the Danube with its pride

so unlike the Danube with its pride
its Kepler and Holy Roman seat
its Schikaneder Magic Flute
its Palm Sunday ass ceremony
its Rheingold Hapsburg
Walhalla wax museum's 
thirty-year of war tribute

here near the Han of Taichung
nothing is so shock and awe
a cell phone store clerk's 
child almost drowned at work
a drunken uncle was a jerk
fell off a bridge he cycled o'er
not by River Han be killed

Japanese colonists near the Han and
Mainland Chinese Kuomintang
lined up and shot Taiwanese whose
swept bodies strait into the breeze
died of rape and left for fleas
unlike homeboy Rommel's
Danube forest funeral

5-23-15

plum rains tug on my shoulder

plum rains tug on my shoulder
like a friend who does not want me to leave
"you ain't going nowhere,
because you're already here"
blissful mist of morning horizon
slippery patio garden of delight as
days slide sideways-in from night

i used to be a soldier
in the trenches of muddy loyal infamy,  
withstood the bombardment,
with messy mess kit ready for duty,
until the duty turned beautiful;
like a marriage second time as
passing clouds spill pure pink brine.

branches laid bare, bare leaves,
in the Taiwan sun downpour,
Han River swells to frightful proportions
candy-coated work scooters on the roads
mesmerized in headlights of the oncoming 
newspapers' delivering
oily rainbow river-ring 

5-22-15

after you have arrived

going nowhere is great
after you have arrived
nowhere to go
is why you are staying on

i am not turning around
to tap you on your shoulder

be surprised if i come by to visit

you know where i will be

if we are in each other's future
we will remember who we are

i sit and write on this Han River bench
despite you
not because of you

you do not exist
you are a fat ghost to me

you are not my equal

you may enter my office
in the restaurant booth
if you will

5-7-15

heading back to Brooklyn excited

heading back to Brooklyn excited
reason to visit the land of my birth
to make ourselves homeless in Brooklyn
no family left there, and few friends behind
filling a pothole in the Brooklyn of my mind

as the world opens wide
to where Peruvian chickens roam, 
Indian curry, Arabic babaganoush,
and Italian pizza thrive,
a big world from Brooklyn outside 

as both feet are planted in Taiwan
the story is heard and the writs are served 
divvy up the proceeds, make investments,
charities and downtown Taichung revitalization
my children's future and a wife's realization 

with pocket change to bike where i like
freedom to spend if the twain does not meet
doctor bills, recreational thrills
the two of us riding off into the sunset
chores done before Somerset Maugham fun-set 

5-5-15