Adam Aitken


Languedoc Jelly


My dear Tonto,

Liaison is forbidden
in certain adjective-noun
combinations,

but there are exceptions.

Sometimes, to makes a connection
one silences the gap,

or inserts the unwritten sign,
in French I mean,
if not Potawatomi.

Even your horse
would understand that.

After a while the sounds run in
to each other, or don’t;

the way my buddies used to
before they had babies
or got shot.

Now there’s Languedoc Jelly:
a free ‘coworking’ event

for coworkers who co-lunch.

Bring a laptop, book, filing.

It’s down over in the colony, so

they all speak Pidjin.
Yeah I know, I know
it does shame us Tonto, but.

Put away the weapon now, Wild One
we’re all talking and a deal’s

in progress. A poetic
creative practice.

I knows what I would prefer
where I want to work.

An’ who I wanna work with.
Seeking friends now
seeking an English-speaking association,

but when was the last time
I did any business, any

business
and watched the view make stars
with you?



Adam Aitken lives in Sydney. He teaches writing and English as a Second Language. His last chapbook was Tonto's Revenge (Tinfish Press, Honolulu 2011)
 
 
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