POEMS
Anne Waldman
TRAINS
&
CLOUDS
We have just arrived in Dimitrograd
Is it named after Georgi Dimitrov, statesman
&
prime
minister until 1949?
There certainly are a lot of officials lurking about
I've misplaced my passport
&
they're eyeballing me
The train is like an ambassador
getting a chilly reception, while the sun flights through steely
clouds
I was reading Graham Greene's
Stamboul Train ,
you were
gazing at clouds
I had no idea we'd be stopping in Dimitrograd
I like the name, sounds like demi-god. When I was a
kid I wanted to be an ambassador
What were you doing in 1949?
Just being born? They were probably going about spoiling me
But I have no idea what this uniformed gent is talking about
"Pardon, mais je ne parle pas cette langue, monsieur, "
I was about
to
say, but suddenly something backfired and clouds
of smoke billowed in through the compartment window
&
he leapt out leaving me
free of worry over having no identity in Dimitrograd
I wonder if things were much different here in 1949
Of course! Decadence
&
elegance at the station at
least
&
the war made the ambassador
nervous, you can be sure it wasn't like bei ng a
glamourous ambassador
with expense account you read about
No no things were bleakly winding down in 1949
