Hold On

It's me. I wrote a poem en route to Kunming from Chiang Mai. Here it is, with some modifications. It is one of those "interesting" poems that you can't explain. You will have to free associate and make up your own meaning. Oh, how I love to do that!

Hold On

Hold on to memories.
The dearest place, it can become bitter, and
The sweetest day can be tainted with sorrow.
Hold on to the good parts, and treasure them.

Deep in a cold basement,
We are here.
Slices of freezing cold apples,
Ham and cheese--warm coffee and tea, sugar
Mrs. Binion's shaky handwriting adorning labels.
I take a cup to the faucet and fill it with water.
Miss Chow takes Mr. Judy's double-cupped coffee for him.

Dark and silent behind a stage curtain;
But there is no performance, no
Recital, simply my friend waiting still behind it.
But I see her silhouette and hear a stifled giggle.
"A-ha! Found you!"--simple words, and she emerges laughing.
Now it's my turn to hide. I dart behind the piano--
Dank and musty with a bingo card and a stale cracker--
And wait.

Sunny and warm on a big lawn--
Superheroes are playing, Captain Saro and Captain Susie--
Why is Captain Susie suddenly called Bob Newman?
Captain Saro is called Nutcase and there is running and laughing
While the inhabitant of a blue house
And the driver of a blue van
Talk on end; oblivious to the superheroes--
Who are busy saving the world
From
Faulty Whistles.

Hold on to memories.
The dearest place, it can become bitter, and
The sweetest day can be tainted with sorrow.
Hold on to the good parts, and treasure them.

I hope you liked it. It gives a lot of particulars and yet you'll never know what I'm talking about (evil laugh). But I do hope (nicer laugh) that you can find your own meaning--it's what I meant you to do.