12-1-95 three feet tall on the Reperbahn

Berlin Corridor

A parade of innocents past sex shops
Rosy cheeks amid available flesh
Down the sidewalk as their chaperones’ eyes
Wander
I know it’s perfectly natural
Still it feels like the Amish
On Hollywood Boulevard
Or Mormons on Bourbon Street
The image still haunts me
Their happy faces just between there and there
Either not knowing or caring

Perhaps the thought of America
Where they lie until you are old enough
To call them liars
Honesty, respect for children
Tell them here it is, it’s not for you
yet
Just a street with tourists
And hookers with breakaway snowsuits
Between the police station and Burger King…