Twin Cities - Everything But The Girl

This is one of my favourite ETBG songs, although I have many favourites! I'll probably share some more as time goes on. I think the subject matter may help it appeal to me. :)

Now we're in twin cities
Where the Mississippi rises and then falls
One is Minneapolis and the other no less famous is St. Paul
There are stray dogs on the highway
And the local farmers moan about lack of rain
When the winds blew last winter I swear England had another hurricane
Hurricane….

And we are twin cities, and we are that river
From the standing still, we will be delivered

Last time in New York was with Mandela and Madonna and the Mets
(Last time I was in New York)
They’re icons of an era where that’s about as famous as it gets
(That’s what I call famous, baby)
I’ve seen cities full of ticker-tape, and cotton-trains through Utah disappearing out of sight
Now I’m standing in a city that’s as pretty as an ocean in the night

And we are twin cities, and we are that ocean
From the standing still, we are set in motion
And no one calls me up to say “How long are you going to be away?�?"
(Are you ever coming back?) Yeah yeah… (Are you ever coming back?)
No one calls me up to say “Don’t let that life lead you astray�?"
(Don’t forget to come back)Yeah! (Don’t forget to come back)

They were rioting in Detroit on the night the Pistons won it back to back
(won it back to back)
I was out of there the next day, and I only had just two bags to pack

And we are twin cities, and we are one river
From the standing still, we will be delivered
And we are twin cities, and we are one ocean
From the standing still, we are set in motion

Yeah…

We are twin cities…
We are one river… (We… are… twin… cities…)
One ocean…

More Poetry on Buses

All from 1999. I must have read these the first year we were in Seattle - 2000.

Untitled

I keep a dandelion in full fluff,
Protecting it from breezes and my
Clumsiness
Having not yet found
The perfect wish

Vivienne Alcantara

When we went to school

You’re lucky

We sat in rows like bowling pins
The teacher rolled the questions
And knocked us over
One by one.

You toss answers around like basketballs
Even when you are wrong,
Your teacher never calls a foul.

Elaine P Bishop

Fourteen

As you slam plates, shove silverware, knock
pots and pans into drawers and shelves, suffer
the loss of TV privileges for some imagined misdemeanor,
hole up in the dark corner of your room - it occurs to you again,
that perhaps you were separated at birth from your real
family, the one with the Palm Springs vacations,
the hired housekeeper,
the effortless adolescence.

Donna Miscolta

Poetry on Buses

In Seattle, we didn't have a car for our first few years, so we took the bus to the supermarket and if we ever wanted to go anywhere. We didn't need it for commuting though as we both lived and worked downtown. However, when I was in New Zealand, I commuted to work on the bus every day and I also used the bus to get to and from University at least a few times each week.

I found this poem while living in Seattle. The King County Metro hosts an annual poetry competition for residents of King, Pierce, Kitsap and Snohomish Counties. This poem is from 1999.

Poetry for Buses

You, sitting behind me again.
Do you always have to take this bus?
What is the story with that cough, anyway?
Is it maybe the longest running cold
In the history of colds?
Or do you think it could be the cigarettes?

You do plan to get off pretty soon,
Don’t you?

R McNaughton Phillips. I ride the bus and I write poetry, but rarely at the same time.

Judith Viorst

I had never heard of Judith Viorst until I was in Denver in February, 2000. The people with whom we were staying had a copy of her "How did I get to be 40 & other atrocities" and when I visited Tattered Cover later that same week, I bought myself a copy.

I may not be 40 quite yet, but I've been married almost 12 years now. I love this poem.

Among Other Thoughts on our Wedding Anniversary

Over the years
When the sink overflowed
Or the car ran out of gas
Or the lady who comes every Tuesday to clean didn't come
Or I felt pudgy
Or misunderstood
Or inferior to Marilyn Kaufman who is not only a pediatric surgeon but also a very fine person as well as beautiful
Or I fell in the creek and got soaked on our first family camping trip
Or mosquitoes ate me alive on our first camping trip
Or I bruised my entire left side on our first family camping trip
Or I walked through a patch of what later turned out to be plenty of poison ivy
on what later turned out to be our last camping trip
Or my sweater shrank in the wash
Or I stepped on my glasses
Or the keys that I swear on my children's head I put on the top of the dresser weren't there
Or I felt depressed
Or unfulfilled
Or inferior to Ellen Jane Garver who not only teaches constitutional law but is also a wit plus sexually unsatiable
Or they lost our luggage
Or our reservations
Or two of the engines
Or the rinse that was going to give my hair some subtle copper highlights turned it purple
Or my mother-in-law got upset at something I said
Or my stomach got upset at something I ate
Or I backed into a truck that I swear when I looked in my rear view mirror wasn't parked there
Or I suffered from some other blow of fate,
It's always been nice to have my husband by my side so I could
Blame him.

Adam Taylor

I've loved this poem for many years. At my old job, I even printed it and had it in my cubicle. Nobody quite understood why I liked it though....

Serendipity

Apparently
Great medical advances
Are often made
By happy chance
Like Fleming stumbling
On penicillin

Or me stumbling on
serendipityfarm.com
Which tells how to spot
If a llama is choking:

'Animal gives impression
That he/she is having
Difficulty breathing'

by Adam Taylor 29/09/2000


He also wrote this one:
Gone

"I’m off", he said.
And with that
he was gone.

Like something
that was here once
but isn’t any more.

Like the Incas.

Or a pea
that’s rolled under
the fridge.

Or a spider
that’s been flushed down
the toilet.

Or someone
who’s just delivered
a pizza.

Or a pizza
that’s just been eaten

except for a crumb
that’s been taken by spaceship
to the edge of the time
and space continuum
and kicked out
into nothingness.

And then he came back
with the newspaper.

Stefano Benni - Io Ti Amo

for my Las Vegas friends who are celebrating their wedding anniversary today.

Io ti amo
Stefano Benni from his "Ballate" (1991)

Io ti amo
e se non ti basta
ruberò le stelle al cielo
per farne ghirlanda
e il cielo vuoto
non si lamenterà di ciò che ha perso
che la tua bellezza sola
riempirà l'universo

Io ti amo
e se non ti basta
vuoterò il mare
e tutte le perle verrò a portare
davanti a te
e il mare non piangerà
di questo sgarbo
che onde a mille, e sirene
non hanno l'incanto
di un solo tuo sguardo

Io ti amo
e se non ti basta
solleverò i vulcani
e il loro fuoco metterò
nelle tue mani, e sarà ghiaccio
per il bruciare delle mie passioni

Io ti amo
e se non ti basta
anche le nuvole catturerò
e te le porterò domate
e su te piover dovranno
quando d'estate
per il caldo non dormi
E se non ti basta
perché il tempo si fermi
fermerò i pianeti in volo
e se non ti basta
vaffanculo