Great song. The first section seems to be describing the setting. It would appear to be outdoors, in the city. Perhaps they're on a bench or an outdoor cafe of some kind. The description on neon plants swimming and red thyroid sunsets make it sound like hotel or bar signs lit up, with picutres of palm trees, sunsets, girls, etc as part of their flashy neon advertising. Perhaps this is somewhere in Arizona, where I believe he lived for a while .. during Ice Cream for Crow period maybe.
Trading the domino that is mothball-scented sounds to me like an old tape of his - maybe a video even. He would have to dig through the mothballs to get it, and it would indeed resemble a large domino, with the big circle on either end of the rectangle.
The second section is describing Garland. He's older, chewing and spitting tobacco juice. His thumb print is inked on to the newspaper he's holding, and of course there's a small o in a thumb print,making it look like it's screaming.
The third section I have half figured out. The first part describes Garland blowing his nose and smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. He drops the used match into an ashtray. The sound of the match hitting the tubed ashes from previous cigs (hot sillhouettes) makes for the applause.
As far as the rainbow baboon and the fifteen fish eyes .. who knows. Maybe they're black-eyed peas being eaten. Maybe there's a blackjack game going on nearby, and the fish eyes are chips being raked in by the dealer's "spoon" .. I have no idea.
It's possible that Garland - besides being a person described by the Captain - is also symbolic of something else. Just a thought. The fact that he got his coat at the "religious scene", and that the Captain wants to trade some music for it, and then Garland decides not to sell the coat .. it all smacks of something deeper, beneath the surface. Perhaps a comment on religion and commerce going hand-in-hand .. just a thought. I'm sure Pena asking "who'd you look like underneath?" has at least two meanings as well. Any thoughts on this poem are much welcome.
Great song. The first section seems to be describing the setting. It would appear to be outdoors, in the city. Perhaps they're on a bench or an outdoor cafe of some kind. The description on neon plants swimming and red thyroid sunsets make it sound like hotel or bar signs lit up, with picutres of palm trees, sunsets, girls, etc as part of their flashy neon advertising. Perhaps this is somewhere in Arizona, where I believe he lived for a while .. during Ice Cream for Crow period maybe.
Trading the domino that is mothball-scented sounds to me like an old tape of his - maybe a video even. He would have to dig through the mothballs to get it, and it would indeed resemble a large domino, with the big circle on either end of the rectangle.
The second section is describing Garland. He's older, chewing and spitting tobacco juice. His thumb print is inked on to the newspaper he's holding, and of course there's a small o in a thumb print,making it look like it's screaming.
The third section I have half figured out. The first part describes Garland blowing his nose and smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. He drops the used match into an ashtray. The sound of the match hitting the tubed ashes from previous cigs (hot sillhouettes) makes for the applause.
As far as the rainbow baboon and the fifteen fish eyes .. who knows. Maybe they're black-eyed peas being eaten. Maybe there's a blackjack game going on nearby, and the fish eyes are chips being raked in by the dealer's "spoon" .. I have no idea.
It's possible that Garland - besides being a person described by the Captain - is also symbolic of something else. Just a thought. The fact that he got his coat at the "religious scene", and that the Captain wants to trade some music for it, and then Garland decides not to sell the coat .. it all smacks of something deeper, beneath the surface. Perhaps a comment on religion and commerce going hand-in-hand .. just a thought. I'm sure Pena asking "who'd you look like underneath?" has at least two meanings as well. Any thoughts on this poem are much welcome.