third world poet

heh. and there was a joke
for this already, but tonight,
at Sam's Wonder Bar, it was
even funnier, i guess. a woman
had spotted my pittsburgh penguins
hoodie and while i stood on a chair
trying to get a shot of the crowd, she
came up and said she loved hockey
and it was good to find another person
who watched and liked the penguins.
i tried to tell her i didn't watch hockey,
but she danced away and i went back
to taking pictures.

now, you might be wondering why i have
a pittsburgh penguins hoodie if i don't
like the team or even like hockey (and
yes, i know this probably isn't the
'normal point' of this story...) you
see, my brother works (executive)
for rebok. so, for Christmas, i
got a lot of sports related
clothes. being a poor
man pumping
everything
into building
a business, i
guess i don't
spend a lot
on clothes.
small smile.
i love the free
clothes, but i
joked that i
felt like that
small black
kid you see
wearing a
Fonz or Tab
t-shirt in the
deepest darkest
heart of africa -
they don't get
the significance
of the shirt, perhaps,
or like the team, but they
appreciate the clothes.

so, later, standing by the
video, she tried to spark
a sports conversation a-
gain. i was batting ... well,
i don't know an appropriate
number, but it was low. she
said it again and i repeated
i didn't even watch hockey. i
just liked the penguin, i said,
not wanting to go into the whole
third world routine with her for fear
of sounding like an even bigger fool.
i like it, she said, there are fights. well,
better than baseball, i say, hitting a foul
ball as she says she loves baseball. what's
your favorite team. not having one, i went with
my hometown - the indians - cubs, she said, then
shook her head - oh well, no match.

and i guess i coulda been sports fanatic for the
night, she was quite hot, but that isn't me. i
wandered back into the crowd, looking
for the perfect shot, finding out what
i got later - as in now - video enco-
ding and photos processing and
time moves on. alone but with
my creativity. sam's wonder
bar saturdays set me
free.