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To Gerald England's previous piece

The Image-Maker

"Hi there,
calling you from Southern California"
It is a business call
but i am seduced by her sultry drawl,
can think only of long beaches
with the surf breaking at dawn
and two lesbians
running after each other like children
laughing and rollicking and frolicking

This is how i see it
in late-night movies i video
for watching on lazy afternoons
She calls me transatlantic
to push her corporate image/ideas
Her voice draws me
to her "southern California"
and all i have are images
ideas created by film makers
and the media
I hear on the radio
a song that claims
"it never rains in southern California"
while here it pours down
The TV has news
of beatings, riots, lawlessness
and i know
long after i've hung up the receiver
there is another side to the place

Yet all i can hear
is her warm wind-swept inviting voice
 "calling from southern California"
and all i can do
is to fall for her charms

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