Drifting In

The American joints in Prague
Islands of regret, ying and yang
turned on by common language
Return to the herd from isolation
A removal sometimes too distant

Familiar words and glances
slivers of invitation, slices of turning away
"Brokaw said . . ," the words fade out
Piercing female laughter, strident, American
A herd call, that warns of predators

Exclamation of the ill at ease being easy
Unsettled settlers, circle words like wagons
huddled for warmth around a common fire
"Can you imagine a pickup line like that . . ,"
Words from Chicago faster than the planes

Recognition, pulling species to species
Desert watering holes, where no one drinks
sensing lions, edging near to paw the mud
sniffing one another, checking out our kind
Drifting in from distant plains, but not for long