A Perfect Stranger and Other Remembrances

I remember an imperfect night in a Tokyo bar
Crowded with Marines
And exotic women wearing flannel and black leather
Hoping for God knows what
My best friend screwing a woman with bad teeth in the only bathroom
Causing a line out the door
And much desperation
We missed the last train to Yokosuka
Had to sleep on the train station sidewalk
Waking to the buzz of a Tokyo morning
Gazing up meekly into the bewildered eyes
Of an old woman selling magazines and trinkets
To weary morning commuters

I wish I could remember the face of that fleeting woman
Surely ten years my senior
If it is possible to fall in love in a single embrace
Dancing to “You’re So Vain”
In a sailor bar in Memphis

I remember tipping a buck to some rough hombre wearing white gloves
The kind chauffeurs wear
Just to take a piss
In a rancid Tijuana cantina bathtub urinal
Every wall decorated beautifully
With hand painted Saltillo tiles
Just like the ones celebrities have in their bathrooms
In Santa Fe

I wish I could remember more about my grandfather
Who from whiskey and work lived hard and died harder
But all I remember is the oily smell of his tools
The sweet scent of blooming magnolias in the Arkansas heat
And his smoky subterranean voice
Picking out songs on an old Gibson
The voice of Johnny Cash
Train songs of Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers

I'd like to forget the time I tried with a friend
To hike across the Mexicali borderline to the Sea of Cortez
Nothing but a backpack full of beer
And a pocket full of dreams
We were of course turned back by a driving rain
A hive of pickpockets
And youthful lust
Not getting any farther than the first whorehouse bar

Sometimes I pretend that I remember my great, great grandfather
Captured at Cassville during Sherman's march to the sea
Shot by a guard at Rock Island POW camp
Suffering from dysentery he was an easy target
Down at a fetid privy near the perimeter fence kill line
A world away from his sweet Mississippi home

And I'll never forget the cosmic grace
Of sharing my soul with a perfect stranger
Over coffee
And other unmentionable things