Letter from America

A pack of Djarum lights, a pocket thesaurus and a carafe of mimosas. Sitting out back letting the wind turn the pages of a book I've read a thousand times before and I'm as impatient as they come 'cept when I'm laying awake waiting for the sun. Paul Guanzon, the overnight anchor, keeps me company. Paul's broadcasting career began at a 5,000 watt station in Waikiki where he worked as a Hawaiian music DJ for three years while going to the University of Hawaii. Paul also spent one year as a country music DJ at a station in Waipahu, after a professor told him, "If you want to be a success in radio, you have to work at least one year as a country DJ", going by the name Jim Shoes because Art Gallery was too hard to say. I like Roman numerals and the filament click my Swiss Made makes when I change the date once a year in February. We fell asleep tangled up in blue sheets underneath a mammoth Winston Churchill mural I wanted to steal. Him in his top hat, pea coat, walking stick and triumphant victory "V". I had a dream she was swearing the Masterpiece Theatre theme was an untapped Mozart piece and I was saying "No!", that it was "most certainly Jean-Joseph Mouret" but for some reason my mouth wouldn't form the right words and so I kept saying it was by John Joseph from the Cro-Mags. Everything makes sense when you're half asleep, trust me. Sam and Alistair Cooke, Cookie Monster all in the same bed, under the covers with a flickering flashlight trading ghost stories about old New York, back when it was still New Amsterdam. Sitting on the ferry heading back to Calais listening to the glass bottle serenade in the duty free as Johnnie Walker and Dewar's rub elbows in a clanging cacophony across The English Channel. And I can't believe Camden burnt down. We were just there, ducked into some little candy store and bought mum a beaded Union Jacket purse. But its just me, a pack of Djarum lights, a pocket thesaurus and a carafe of mimosas. Sitting out back letting the wind turn the pages of a book I've read a thousand times before...