Johann

Grey fade to white
         scrabbling fur of neck
         scuffling man has crossed salt pan
               his elbows jutting
               his chin of scruff, Captain Morgan cap of tweed
                                             teeth of frowning fish
                                             eyes aglaze, seeking stable.

                                             Clutching Starbuck,
                                             he seats beside me,
                                             lyrics on his lips.

Johann's fond of elevators,
               the way electrons hum
               how quick they may lift a fighter to the
                                                         flight deck.
               Bismarck's decks were shrouded in contrivance
                                                         to hide from allied bombers,
                                                         to forestall sinking.

Johann's from Sudetenland
              but his Hanzeschüle shipped him
              off to Bremerhaven
              to join the hand ball club.

Johann's father hit the jackpot, when
              in the First War,
              his skull but grazed by the Kimmel
              could have shattered
              but survived,
              to wed the daughter of his peer.
              Two men born in ninetynine.

Johann's mother bore him after war
              swaddled him with pummeled scraps
              Berlin burnt and broken.
               Second War messed up many.

Johann's wheels were Isetta:
              egg beater of the Autobahn
              too cheap for brass radiator
              (brass radiates readily,
              must be milled at
                                            high revolutions).
              But his son wants a self-driving car
                                            in which back seat, he
                                            may fool around with girl.

Johann's passage was by freighter,
              came across Atlantic,
              "every body drunk but me."
              Where fish like moons
              polka dot the water
                            and
              heaped upon the beach
              beckon farmers.
              Wheelbarrows
                            shovel all the sea.