COME IN TOKYO
COCKROACH UNDER GLASS
It feels like autumn in Tokyo but its only mid-September
and the Ministry of WE JAPANESE hasnt officially
declared the last day of summer even though its cool and
everyone begins a conversation by saying, Cool, isnt it?
Anyway its the silly season, time for shifting tectonics and
cockroaches crawling through doors half-open for ventilation
then trapped under over-turned drinking glasses until the
air runs out followed by the final toilet flush solution which
isnt the best but will just have to do until Sayoko comes
home with the roach motels.
Industrial pigeons land on my crap-covered balcony trying to
nest behind dirty air conditioners until I rattle laundry rods
and fire water from our green plastic toothbrush rinser or
blast away with my wifes bleach water cannon actually only
a converted ironing spray dispenser which sounds good but
doesnt fool anyone, least of all these tough tech-savy city
birds.
Theyre persistent unstoppable maybe the oldest organisms
on earth capable of surviving total nuclear annihilation
which sounds surreal but watching that ugly little bugger
crawling around under my drinking glass reminds me of
Harry Truman. Atomic Harry. Always good for a cheap nuclear
disaster or suddenly remembering he forgot his wallet at home.
Yes there are no bananas in the War On Terror an epic
whatsyamacallit we will never forget because it changed our
lives forever like a missing leg or Hitler or Lyndon Johnson
who showed a little girl picking daisies then a nuclear bomb
exploding behind the words of Barry Goldwater – A choice
not an echo – except LBJ tried to stop the Viet Cong
unstoppable as cockroaches or Dittoheads or your basic
banjo-picking Deliverance-type Yahoos with their private
enterprise dogma, bib overalls, doggedly crawling under sofas
or running across the kitchen table barking doggerel at
terrorists how they hate our freedom, prosperity what we stand
for:
Sareena Williams, Sherwin Williams; roaches rooting around
in garbage cans, teabaggers voting against their own interests,
the shining on a hill, purple hair, getting into the dogs dish,
bringing the blessings of liberty and civilization to everyone
on earth like democracy or flush toilets or The Price Is Right.
Tokyo, Wednesday, 09/16/09
