town
uow i'm a tourist_in_my_own_town 040926
...
from now on my great grandfather
came here as a goldminer
onehundredandseven years ago 		041031
...
from now on my great grandfather,
my grandpa's father
was born in a covered wagon
in california, 1857


he was educated, he travelled

he was a bartender, a secretary,
a tobacconist and more

he lived in one of the hotels in town
after greatgrandmother threw him out
after he was found out

he had been married, with children

before

they were married
he never told anyone
and she was catholic
irish born in 1880, iowa

together they'd been
for about? thirty years
my great grandparents
they had a whole horde of children that's all i know for sure

i heard their eyes first met
at a train station in washington
they must've fallen in love
then and there because
they got married at the next stop


my great grandfather,
my grandpa's father
he died in one of the hotels in town
they buried him at the cemetery
my greatgrandmother was buried elsewhere 		041031
...
from now on


when my grandpa was my age
he would go to the picture show
at the theatre i go to now 		041031
...
from now on i'm a tourist_in_my_own_town 041031
...
monee

i was here
when my grandparents were young

i was here
when my mother was a girl


i'm_a_tourist_in_my_own_town


i made my way here

from a fireworks sky
from a vancouver beach

i was there
at the selling of tapestries
i was there at the christmas market

i was to be born
in my grandpa's cabin

but then the wind changed
when mount saint helens blew

my ship was sent sailing
and i was born elsewhere

i was born where i was sposed to
i was born elsewhere
but i came home

i'm_a_tourist_in_my_own_town 		041222
...
monee i will be here
in a hundred years
i will be here 		041222
...
mon uow i loved it when
i asked for a black pen
and she said i was the first in all the months she'd worked there, to ask for black pen


and it's a busy place

and i sat across the street writing

and thinking of how
i was the first in all those months
to ask for a black pen
such a strange thing it seemed

"i prefer black,
i'm surprised others haven't asked" 		050404
...
mon uow i loved it when
i asked for a black
pen and she said
i was the first
in all the months
she'd worked there
to ask for black 		050404
...
mon uow and it's a busy place

and i sat across the street writing

and thinking of

such a strange thing it seemed 		050404
...
mon uow this is my tenth year here 050404
...
mon uow but i've always been here

and here has always been me 		050404
...
nom i don't know where to be sometimes

i miss my town
but i love vancouver 		070329
what's it to you?
who go 		blather
from