Riga Goes South

[atlantatransfer]

When daylight broke, we found that nothing had changed.
It was the same old day-to-day.
And it carried on and continued in that awful linear way.

I asked if history really does repeat, or if it ever
cycles back on itself. You said no.
We weren't speaking in English.

It started with hair extensions glued to the head
of the woman in the corner of the cafe,
and you brought it up in the language of our grandparents,
so no one would understand what was being said.
Kā jūs latviski sakāt bad weave?
You're catty like that, but I'm no better
because I indulge you.

No two leaves are exactly the same,
but they all get the same name.
How else would we know that all fires are hot?
HOT FRESH NOW glared the neon in the window.
My luke warm latte stood a sign unsignified.

Those men at the counter-- what's their deal?
It's all just speculation
like the Civil War or that one we're fighting now.
The dead are too populous to interrogate one by one.


(Note: the italicized text means: How do you say 'bad weave' in Latvian?)