Joe Balaz


Pineapple Sam Goes Traveling

Pineapple Sam


SOMEWHERE OVER NEVADA



Leaving Denver

on the second leg of my continued aerial trip 
that began in Cleveland

this cigar with wings
took so long taxiing on the tarmac

that I thought the pilot
was driving the jet to Las Vegas

on the freeway.


I should have hitched a ride with Pegasus—
It would have been much faster.


That mythical horse would have sped me
to my destination,

which is that magical land in the desert

of bright lights, bright people, 
and shiny bright invisible coins,

that nostalgically drop into machined slots
via new machines that have no slots,

while the whole process brings more fortune

to all of those fat cat casino barons
and shareowners.


I’ve got red eyes
on the Red Eye,

Can’t you tell?

With nothing diversionary to do
like most of the regimented people traveling

who watch movies
or are mesmerized by their I-pads,

I’m hallucinating in an uncomfortable way
because I wish I was sleeping hours ago—

This flight seems torturous
when you are bored into an oncoming coma.

However, I know the acclaimed show 
and the relatives that  I want to meet and see

will be worth the effort.


So this is how I occupy myself

wondering where’s a wormhole
when you need one.


Mercifully,

this jet is almost there 
and it will soon be landing

so I’ll just pretend
that I’m already tucked in

with a nice soft pillow
and snoozing away in a hotel room

instead of being stuck in the clouds
somewhere over Nevada.




STRAYING IN VEGAS



What happens in Vegas,
stays in Vegas,

is not necessarily true.


The subtle racial stereotype

of a smiling and very attractive looking
Hispanic maid on your welcoming

“Dear Hotel Guest” laminated flyer
does stay in Sin City

and it is unfortunately perpetuated
and continues in Vegas.


By the way,
that is really not your maid,

but in reality
an actress or a model

that gave away her ethnic likeness
for the money,

sort of like 
a more respectable gold digger.


Let’s hope that this mentality strays away,
but it’s not going to happen anytime soon.



Here’s where things 
kind of change though

with a few of the many scenarios
being played out every day.


The venereal disease
that you got in Vegas

goes home and stays with you—

There’s long term medication 
that can help

so don’t worry too much about it
because it will flare up again if you do,

and the blistering sores are a nuisance. 

Also, if you were never a pill taker
you are now, 

unless you are willing to enjoy 
periodic irritating blisters.


The memory of the money
that you could not afford to lose

stays with you.

The actual money that really counts
stays in Vegas.


The misstep of your affair
that you had with another woman

while your wife went shopping for things
that she really doesn’t need,

but that she really, really wants,
stays and remains with you.


However,
this is amplified and quickly altered though,

especially when your wife
notices long black hairs

and a familiar and still wet stain

on the revealing white sheet 
of your hotel bed.


She’s meticulous,

so your hasty story that the hairs
belonged to the housekeeping maid

is not going to save you,

because your wife knows that the maid
had short brown hair.
 

She met her in the hallway
when she left to go shopping

and the maid said that she was
going to do your room next

after the cleaning was done
in the room that she was working on

which was right next to the room
that you had your affair in.


Your wife also knows how you are,

so when she announces 
with an enraged gusto

that this is the last time

that you are ever going
to do this to her again,

because you did it to her before,

know that in the deepest part
of your conniving heart,

that your marriage is finally over.


Divorce is not so bad

after you get through
all of the excruciating pain and suffering.

The fallout from the nuclear blast

does have a tendency
to settle into place over a period of time.


The broken nose that you got in Vegas
happened in Vegas, 

but it does go home with you
with some pain and discomfort.


Actually, a crooked nose

really gives you a certain look
and a sense of character,

to go along 
with your Rocky Balboa intellect.


Now, if your girlfriend’s name
happens to be Adrian,

then you truly live 
in the Twilight Zone,

so welcome to the neighborhood.


The high aspirations that you had
coming to Vegas

stays in Vegas,

but the low and final 
disappointing results that are played out

journeys back home with you.


The hype of Vegas
stays in Vegas,

the questioned afterglow leaves town 
and is studied and analyzed by you.


This entire contrarian view of Vegas
may or may not stay in Vegas,

but it is simply an overview observation
from me to you.


It’s all a matter of perception
and deception.

Vegas is reality and illusion
happening at the same time.


All of it is based upon
a calculated and definite truth—

You will lose more than you win.


So Vegas
with its welcoming arms

is eager to entice and draw you in.


The price is always right
for all of the big glittering houses.


What strays in Vegas,
pays in Vegas,

and goes home as various mementos

to ponder over 
in the privacy of your own space

far away from the sophisticated piracy
in the neon and concrete desert.




Joe Balaz writes in American English and in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (HIP). He is
the author of Pidgin Eye, a book of poetry.  Balaz is an avid supporter of writing and
art created by Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiians) in Hawaiian, Hawaiian Islands Pidgin,
and in English.  He is also an advocate for writing and art created by the
multicultural community in Hawai’i in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin and in English. He
directs his energy on relaying these dynamic genres to new audiences in the expanding
context of World Literature.  Balaz presently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

 
 

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