North Korea

trying to live in Heaven
found myself in Pyongyang instead
passed security at the train station
found a cheap hotel bed
it was summer and i needed help
and no one was putting on airs
i went looking for an elevator
but ended up taking the midnight stairs
i flirted with a poor maid
for twenty won she gave me her best daylight frown
i stopped suddenly and looked harder
everyone else kept looking down
i heard my door knocking
it opened so I went running outside
a man in a military suit followed me
i was determined to find a safer place to hide
and i was hungry and needed to eat
i saw a dog's ear on a dinner plate,
a little boy with a single piece of white rice;
his sister wanted it but she was much too late
there were starving people sleeping on the road
i knew they had no private hotel
and i wanted to get some needed sleep
but i didn't feel none too well:
a quiet doctor led me to a riverbank
we heard a marching band
and when the lights began their search
she offered me her hand.