SWISS TOILET POEMS, AND WHY MEN FAIL

 

On draining into the this

porcelain commode from the

1860′s, my host told me it’s customary for

Swiss men to sit on the toilet

when peeing, out of respect

to Swiss women.

This is American women who

clean the dribble spots on

toilet seats from American

men each day.

~ ~ ~

This a culture where men

sit in honor of women,

who are not under but

over things that are intangible,

things that are not meant to

be understood by lower animals.

Men from other cultures may

think Swiss men too soft

to sit on the seat every time,

so it may be the Swiss women

who also sit down every time

they make love out of respect to the men.

~ ~ ~

What does it say about the

men who sit when they pee

out of respect to women.

What does it say of men who

don’t sit when they pee.

This is what life is when people

are living with real people.

To when people are not living.

This is what the clouds rain

when it falls, it just falls

where it may on Earth.

This man

This woman

are not clouds that make rain,

but the Earth, and dampened moss

that absorbs water, land masses,

people, rainwater and wet

cobblestones, where a man sits for

a woman.

~ ~ ~

Epilogue

After 20 years I will never truly

understand the Swiss men, who sit

when peeing out of respect, maybe

it is I who does not understand myself

standing, spraying the toilet seat and

expect women to wet themselves

in my honor. It is women who are

always being sprayed by man,

left with nothing to rinse, these women

stand naked before us, pleading to have

warmth, but are left without, only

a wet toilet seat left by each

man who came before.

~ ~ ~

Restaurant Schoengrun

9/18/10 – Zentrum Paul Klee

Inside this gourmet restaurant

glass encased, the husband and wife,

rich American women, and Swiss-French man,

never said a word the entire lunch,

5 courses, until it was necessary to

comment on the other couple that

was talking the entire meal,

to make fun that she was black, and

he was white. She was poor, he was educated.

He was lonely in love and moneyed,

she in need of something better.

Then they regressed back into

their silent dinner, empty marriage,

as the other desperate couple, talked,

talked of love, and each other.

~ ~