In America
1.
It is what people always say
When they move into an old house
It is what people always say
When the other tenants have moved on.
BAH
You are dogs biting their own tails
If you like Paris better than you like Los Angeles
It doesn't describe Paris and it's no photograph of Los Angeles
It doesn't tell much about you either.
This age is no peck of potatoes
Just because somebody tells you Chicago is a bottle of sour cream
Rich healthy but no good to sweet tooths
Is no reason why the lights on Michigan Boulevard should be dimmed
Say young fellow where can you see prettier legs
Did you ever drink much claret anyway
Whiskey is strong and hot a man's drink
I bet the pyramids weren't built on claret
And I bet Antony didn't drink champagne
When he spent that weekend with old Cleopatra
Can you imagine a man who has to buy soap and bathwater
Having time left over to imagine Andy Gump
My poems are classics
Because Europe is going to find footnotes
Absolutely necessary to get the full drive of what I say
When you've got them running around for footnotes
Made in America you're competing with Homer
And others gone but not forgotten.
2.
We've got organs twice a day in the movies
You can swim for nothing out at Ocean Park
Hot dogs and switzer-cheese sandwiches with mustard
Greek games girls and boys with no clothes on
All that stuff about good old days is bunk
Say did you ever see my girl in her bathing suit
You know what makes me sore in Paris is
They think I'm too damn good to look
I don't like thick ankles that's all
French girls laugh about it
Big butt and boobs no shape no class
But the frogs like them that way
As Uncle Henry used to say
Takes all kinds of people. . . .
Once in France I liked my lunch
Was happy because the wine was good too
I says to myself I'll tell this frog
Mister you've got a damn nice place
I gave him my card with my name and address on
Forgot all about it
You know what happened two weeks later I get a bill
Saying there was a mistake
I owed them ninety-four more francs
Did I ever pay it say who do you think I am
Did I ever hear from them again
Did I say young fellow frogs jump but they aint got wings.
3.
Since the army
I've been trying to figure out
Why all frogs have small feet
Let a frog be born in America
And his feet will be big even if he is a frog
No frog's a real frog outside France
An Italian talks like a dago in Italy or New York
He has to sing his words even in English
And his voice is easy like an old shoe
When he talks to his girl
I mean a man's shoe not a woman's
The Italian hasn't got a high-heeled voice like the frog
And an Englishman doesn't talk English at all
Sort of whistles and sneezes and explodes
Like a steam calliope
I always look around for the lions
When I hear an Englishman talk seems all I need
Is a red balloon to feel I'm watching a parade
You Americans he says just like a lion
Putting its paw outside the bars of its cage
And yawning so you can see its pink mouth inside
Wouldn't he sneeze if you put a sour cherry inside.
4.
Walking along Market Street
Looking at the girls until you get to Kearny Street
You could think yourself a sailor
The way they smile and shake their little butts
Say you could think yourself in love with them all
Your heart feels so big and Market Street so short
And the lights in the restaurants make everything cosy
And Chinatown's just a few blocks around the corner
And the street cars make enough noise
That keeps people from hearing what you say
And everything's mysterious
And you feel something's going to happen
And when you pass the fruit stand on the corner
And see all the apples red and shiny.
You go on to the cigar store on the other corner
And shake dice for cigarettes
And win or lose
You light one and stand there smoking.
Wishing you could tell the man who sells cigarettes
What you've got inside you
As plain as the cigarette labels tell
What's inside the package
BUT you aint got the words.
5.
How many things can you think of when you think of God
Besides church how many gestures can you make when you
Think of love how many things can you think of besides
A naked woman How do you know you love your girl
Because you want to sleep with her how do you know
You're thinking of God when you put a dime on the plate
The man in the movies seems to be going somewhere
But he's just another Robinson Crusoe on an Island
And you're the sea splashing him with your big round eyes
Besides you're going to tear your pants on the rocks
If you hold that girl too tight.
6.
Sonnets a sonnet is an armful of words
Flung out like a lariat by a trained rope-thrower
You make the coil spin around eight times
Then pull in with a snap. When you've done that
You've roped in a sonnet. You're a Will Rogers cowboy
You've put footlights around your prairie
You've trained your horse to stand when you throw.
7.
A lot of people want the engines taken out of ships
Because the sails used to look so pretty
But you don't hear no sailors kicking
A lot of people want horsecars again
And candlelight the old picturesque days they call them
When you only looked at a girl at a dance
I wish they could have them days while I have mine
I wish they'd remember them days without a whine
They want sonnets Free verse aint poetry no Sir
A brook aint water it's a brook
A stream aint water it's a stream
A river aint water it's a river
A lake aint water it's a lake
A sea aint water it's a sea.
But thank God a fish is a fish
Whether it's whale or cod or shark or salmon
And my girl's good for kissing seven days a week.
It is what people always say
When they move into an old house
It is what people always say
When the other tenants have moved on.
BAH
You are dogs biting their own tails
If you like Paris better than you like Los Angeles
It doesn't describe Paris and it's no photograph of Los Angeles
It doesn't tell much about you either.
This age is no peck of potatoes
Just because somebody tells you Chicago is a bottle of sour cream
Rich healthy but no good to sweet tooths
Is no reason why the lights on Michigan Boulevard should be dimmed
Say young fellow where can you see prettier legs
Did you ever drink much claret anyway
Whiskey is strong and hot a man's drink
I bet the pyramids weren't built on claret
And I bet Antony didn't drink champagne
When he spent that weekend with old Cleopatra
Can you imagine a man who has to buy soap and bathwater
Having time left over to imagine Andy Gump
My poems are classics
Because Europe is going to find footnotes
Absolutely necessary to get the full drive of what I say
When you've got them running around for footnotes
Made in America you're competing with Homer
And others gone but not forgotten.
2.
We've got organs twice a day in the movies
You can swim for nothing out at Ocean Park
Hot dogs and switzer-cheese sandwiches with mustard
Greek games girls and boys with no clothes on
All that stuff about good old days is bunk
Say did you ever see my girl in her bathing suit
You know what makes me sore in Paris is
They think I'm too damn good to look
I don't like thick ankles that's all
French girls laugh about it
Big butt and boobs no shape no class
But the frogs like them that way
As Uncle Henry used to say
Takes all kinds of people. . . .
Once in France I liked my lunch
Was happy because the wine was good too
I says to myself I'll tell this frog
Mister you've got a damn nice place
I gave him my card with my name and address on
Forgot all about it
You know what happened two weeks later I get a bill
Saying there was a mistake
I owed them ninety-four more francs
Did I ever pay it say who do you think I am
Did I ever hear from them again
Did I say young fellow frogs jump but they aint got wings.
3.
Since the army
I've been trying to figure out
Why all frogs have small feet
Let a frog be born in America
And his feet will be big even if he is a frog
No frog's a real frog outside France
An Italian talks like a dago in Italy or New York
He has to sing his words even in English
And his voice is easy like an old shoe
When he talks to his girl
I mean a man's shoe not a woman's
The Italian hasn't got a high-heeled voice like the frog
And an Englishman doesn't talk English at all
Sort of whistles and sneezes and explodes
Like a steam calliope
I always look around for the lions
When I hear an Englishman talk seems all I need
Is a red balloon to feel I'm watching a parade
You Americans he says just like a lion
Putting its paw outside the bars of its cage
And yawning so you can see its pink mouth inside
Wouldn't he sneeze if you put a sour cherry inside.
4.
Walking along Market Street
Looking at the girls until you get to Kearny Street
You could think yourself a sailor
The way they smile and shake their little butts
Say you could think yourself in love with them all
Your heart feels so big and Market Street so short
And the lights in the restaurants make everything cosy
And Chinatown's just a few blocks around the corner
And the street cars make enough noise
That keeps people from hearing what you say
And everything's mysterious
And you feel something's going to happen
And when you pass the fruit stand on the corner
And see all the apples red and shiny.
You go on to the cigar store on the other corner
And shake dice for cigarettes
And win or lose
You light one and stand there smoking.
Wishing you could tell the man who sells cigarettes
What you've got inside you
As plain as the cigarette labels tell
What's inside the package
BUT you aint got the words.
5.
How many things can you think of when you think of God
Besides church how many gestures can you make when you
Think of love how many things can you think of besides
A naked woman How do you know you love your girl
Because you want to sleep with her how do you know
You're thinking of God when you put a dime on the plate
The man in the movies seems to be going somewhere
But he's just another Robinson Crusoe on an Island
And you're the sea splashing him with your big round eyes
Besides you're going to tear your pants on the rocks
If you hold that girl too tight.
6.
Sonnets a sonnet is an armful of words
Flung out like a lariat by a trained rope-thrower
You make the coil spin around eight times
Then pull in with a snap. When you've done that
You've roped in a sonnet. You're a Will Rogers cowboy
You've put footlights around your prairie
You've trained your horse to stand when you throw.
7.
A lot of people want the engines taken out of ships
Because the sails used to look so pretty
But you don't hear no sailors kicking
A lot of people want horsecars again
And candlelight the old picturesque days they call them
When you only looked at a girl at a dance
I wish they could have them days while I have mine
I wish they'd remember them days without a whine
They want sonnets Free verse aint poetry no Sir
A brook aint water it's a brook
A stream aint water it's a stream
A river aint water it's a river
A lake aint water it's a lake
A sea aint water it's a sea.
But thank God a fish is a fish
Whether it's whale or cod or shark or salmon
And my girl's good for kissing seven days a week.
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