Hens of Genova

What was it about that weekend?

something to do with De Andre
and seeing things through other people’s eyes

or maybe it was too much sun
and a bad kebab

We’d never seen so many
big boats
luxury hotels swimming in shaky light

and all those alleyways
leading the lost
into all kinds of fun and trouble

close to midnight on the Saturday
we walked the harbour side

great old uncle lighthouse
shone his helpful head
and a few lonely cans of lager got caressed
trapped
between young lovers

I held her round the waist
as we peered into the dark
scary water

across the way
four cargo cranes stood on the dock

“don’t they look like Hens” she said
and I laughed loudly
- caught off guard

“evil hens...” she continued
“evil and tall... look that one’s got an evil red eye”

I followed the line of her pointing finger
toward the flashing bulb
at the top
of a neck

“Yeah” I agreed
“I guess they’re just big old birds waiting to peck”

Heading back to our hotel
I thought about ‘us’
about what we were
in the eyes
of others