Stoned Again

 

Fast da! - Almost there! 38,5 x 28,5 cm c/o Karin Goeppert

THE REAL LIFE

is a pill that if ingested will illuminate every leaf on every tree

   in the Garden of Abshard,

famed for its orchards, poets, and the restorative powers of its water.   

Or: a train station in provincial Austria, which may be redundant,

so: a train station in Austria.

The shabby genteel restaurant within.

Sweaty citizens gorging on blood pudding  

and ambiguous potato dumplings floating in porcelain bowls of clear broth.

After which schnapps is called for by a man dressed in Lederhosen

while in the bathroom the ghost of Thomas Bernhard pukes into a sink.

“The hairy skin of only the plumpest raspberries is used to make our schnapps.”

Did you know that Shakespeare invented the word “pewk?”

And when was the last time you heard the designation “shabby genteel”

applied to something or someone?

James Joyce?

The back streets of Charleston, S.C.?

My grandmother’s living room?

What if “the real life” doesn’t mean anything anymore either?

Or maybe the really real, at this moment in time anyway,

                                                    is a walk to the store. Along the way  

                                 a creek, and a pot-holed gravel path

                   down which a languid girl in a straw hat, smoking a jazz cigarette,  

saunters by, singing a song none of us will ever hear again.

 Some cool music after read more!