moving fast again
what’s coming out of my mouth?
it was all “Danke” for a month
then
all of a sudden
in Bern they said “Mercy”
(you know, the french “merci” but said much more like “mer-sea”)
then a night in geneva
and suddenly all of my german listening and phrasing was useless
— everything was french
and i wondered if Eli got along better here
3 years ago…
jump cut from there
to being on a train in the east midlands (mainline)
heading up from Nottingham to Sheffield
i turn my head and say to some boy
“danke”
but it comes out mumbled
because i know that’s the wrong thing to say
should it have been
“thanks”?
or “ta”?
how far north am i?
not certain
but by the end of the night
when i’ve had about 8 pints of bitter
i happily tell Lesley
“i’m going for a slash”