2006.11.29 Classroom Visitor

What was her first name again?

No matter. She is Green and 26

and I am black and 60,

not Orange Country black, where she is from

but otherwise we look alike

and wonder what the Germans think of us

talking bad about our country

and Arnold Schwarzenegger, girlie-man,

needing a brassiere, Bush needing

to be thrown out on his ear, us needing

habeus corpus back, she saying

how scared everybody is

and what a wimp is

John McCain, who should know better

and probably does, but can't

do better, like the rest of them

including Democrats. 9/11.

Need any more be said?

Yes, she says, the polls are right.

People are saying it, but only behind closed doors.

Mr. Frischholz knows that Rumsfeld is being tried for war crimes

now in Germany, but he is absent today.

I say, foolishly, "Everybody should get excited

about that," knowing nobody will

but me and maybe Mr. Frischholz.

I say you've met a real American today

and almost say two.

She says nice to have met you, I say me too

and hear somebody tell her after class

"But I still like the States." He didn't get it.

We'll see what next week will bring

in Orange County, Germany

and on TV.