THE MUSIC OF ASSORTED PEPPERS:

A man walks in,
Another man says his name,
Unshaven,
The first man looks around,
Sits down,

A man walks in,
His name is Pete,
A man says,
“I guess you don’t get much time to run around” to him,
I woman walks in,
Dressed Black,
Patiently unzipping a purse,

And everything is French,
Though this country isn’t,
And ‘what can I get you?’,

Money is exchanged,
Laughter is heard,
Banging & hissing,
A door is opened,
The woman is leaving,
Through a sea of jazz,
A woman walks in,
With a dog in a coat,
Makes another woman talk in a Mickey Mouse voice,

A man disappears ,
A man leaves the city to become a farmer,
It makes him feel better,
A boy appears in uniform,
To the music of deserts,
Makes me wish I was standing in the Sahara,
No,
Makes me wish I had a desert living in a spare bedroom,
So I could go there,
When I needed silence,
Not the kind of silence that makes me feel alone,
The kind that makes me feel connected to the world

(K)