Episode 2: Standing On Front Porches

Sunday 16th and BA apologises for forgetting my suitcase
But I'm not fretting! I have five millilitres of lip balm and Katie's closet.
10.30 am and they wave "Don't leave" and we wave "Don't want to"
All we want to do is stand on this porch,
Collect another point of view -
You'd bring the books
I'd bring the music
They'd visit us on rainy days.

Breakfast in Amherst then in Newport by 4.45
We dine at Christie's
Converse with an economic waiter,
He offers us two tickets
Dilemma -
What do we do?
Resolved by playlist no.1:
What can we do?

Monday 17th 9.45 am and two New Yorkers take us down to Ocean Drive
Mom says "No talkin' to strangers"
We talk, share thoughts on city-life with its 'no stare policy'
Yet gesticulation in abundance.
Piling in the back seat / loo, bin, fag
Generating steam heat / fag, loo, bin
Pulsating to the back beat / bin, fag, loo
Two cities converse side by side.

11 am Newport mansions: Kingscote, Marble House,
Real french furniture, real silver trinkets -
A consumption of too much of too much.
It's lunchtime and we're on the Coastal Walk
It gives me time to think, to think of Suzy Lee.
I'm told missing her is unhealthy
More unhealthy than cheese on pasta, cheese on toast, cheese on cheese?
Tonight we eat out - Pizza on the porch of a stranger.

Tomorrow to The Armory -
To antiques and fine art
To stare into the eyes of someone I could love for a while (at least).
We catch the 2.30 bus to Providence
You call me anti-social but I'm listening to what Joey says Danny says -
It's crucial to the understanding of an emotional life on the road.
The 5 pm to Copley
Where our map stops unfolding.

I change in the corner of a service station
And end up asleep on your lap.