Feels Like Home

And the town is named after
words on the water tower
The people stepped out of their houses one morning
and looked up at the sky
and saw a sign
and they named their town after this sign
It's the only way to distinguish
between Oakhurst and Belmont
Brownfield and Greenville
where the strip mines meet the strip malls
and the streets are named after numbers and trees
and the kids at bus stops dress like kids on TV
and as Esso becomes Exxon, it's the same gasoline
moving you past the other Tauruses, past the other Sentras minivans and motorhomes with maps of North America painted on their sides-
the states colored in like squares on a bingo card

And the convenience store
is convenient
because I know just where to find my favorite products juices, sodas, beer and wine
candy on the counter closest to the clerk
because that chocolate and sugar cries out loudest to sticky-fingered kids
And the snacks are alphabetized
in reverse-sponsoric notation
with the most space on the shelf reserved for the
product with the biggest poster in the window

And the eyes of the people here
naturally track to the face
a survivalistic check for danger
so naturally
I'll pay a little bit to put a familiar sign on my head just above my eyes
just to fit in
and fitting in is easy-
Coca Cola on my cap
tells the people of this town-
I'm familiar
I'm O.K.

No words were coined in the writing of this story
No flags were burned in the making of this film

A Quarter-Pounder(TM) with Cheese
is a Quarter-Pounder(TM) with Cheese
in Nogales, Arizona or here in my motel room with the swivel TV
All my favorite programs have been following me
Leno and Letterman
are both still here
The time zones change, but the content stays the same

I like this town
It feels like home
I like this room
It's cold
The air conditioner is running. It's set to Normal

-- Brian W. Robinson
308 NW 46th St.
Seattle, WA 98107

Return to the Index of Synapse 37, Fall 1996