In the Mood
by Gord Sellar
wishbone in hand, puzzle
world around my head, it comes
and goes, this vertigo that tells me
I am in a strange place, words
that make no sense make sense
to me suddenly, let’s go and
no thank you and two beer
please. a crazy man tells me fumbling
you are saxophone hero for his
country, and I think he is a member
of an indigenous clade of gangster,
and he gives me mekju which is beer
in his bar between songs, offers of
chicken. it is something about a white
face in this crowd, they don’t hear
sour notes so sour, and this makes my
edges squirm, and my muscles crouch.
there is something wrong with this picture,
but nothing I can really do besides
put the beer down and grab my horn.
— Iksan, South Korea, 2002
It’s true, every word of it.
February 11, 2012