Homeward Bound

A lost boy lost
under his thick clothes only a thin or thinning fear
the paraphernalia of freedom of speech and between two streets
the queue moves slow and quiet and shoegazing
it lowers the selling prices of these properties
amazing value! down jackets and pop-up tops!

The yellowed or yellowing promises of magazines
dry on the lips of ad execs
the holiday spirit
is within your grasp
and those new sweatshoptalk-Nikes
are within your grasp
inequity and exploitation
are in your grasp
and I'm told the revolution won't even be televized
but even that is within your grasp
as you strangle a last gasp from your fellow man
and in the middle of a deserted park I realize
how easy it is to be a good person.

What we need are some kickass powerpoints
poindexter populists hung dry from their ties
rune-singers from garbage yards and junk piles
folk wisdom clichés tangled together in snowdrifts
tales from the deep wells of experience under bridges told in starts & fits
greasy johndoes staggering up to vote
clung to editorials written to a bloated rote saying
c'mon let's play nice and say yay to the Helsinki Guggenheim
or else we'll all be hayseeds and rubes and yokels
and christ not to mention these gypsies
well naw I guess they're ok sometimes
when you're returning home from somewhere or leaving forever
when they play those quaint lazy warzone ballads at the station
it's like a field trip to the idjut 'burbs
with a false prophet True Finn as your sawed-off guide.

To have a whole mint-condish disc of Zoloft
a satchelful of feelings you haven't dealt with yet
and jesus how easy it is to be a good person
the Truth slurped from the mouth of a bottle jutting from a paper bag
cup by cup, the huge buzz that rises from under unkempt moustaches
the nuzzling buddies and late-night lyres
storytellers if it kills them
whispers captured on photographs
love's sweet song sans pubic hairs
the shame! the pleasure!
unsanctioned submarines navigating the depths of the fatherland
let's put our backs to the wheel for the good of Us All
magic tricks on the office couch and imagine
for a solitary moment there exists a place or a realm
that nobody can imagine
as of yet

----

Translation: Kasper Salonen