Acquired Taste

Vino tinto spritzed with agua con gas in Buenos Aires

The back of a van, Bob Dylan humming in your ears

Raindrops on your teenage face

Hoagy Carmichael singalong in his London kitchen

Shoes off at Albert Hall

The syrupy sting of lunchtime rum and colas

Stockings and suitors in the back of black cabs

Victoria sponge cake

You are a child, though you won’t be much longer

Paris in an aimless haste

Paying bar tabs with every last coin

Absinthe to get drunker, faster, cheaper

Uncontrollably wide-eyed with delight

Far from your teenage heaven

Walls coated with long-ago idols

Booked checked out twenty at a time

Tuna on Wonder bread; an untapped palate awaiting

Sadness and anger

I cannot say that it disappears

For a moment, it swells

Learn to love our shallow home

of Los Angeles

Forgetful Nashville and a 

world locked down

Isolation in Tokyo

Onigiri and seasonal vegetables

Chopped raw and arranged neatly in lines

Rice: brown, white, mixed with quinoa

Topped with Papa’s curry

Train beers and cold sake

Benzos and natural wine

Finding yourself in the sprawl