old cold cleveland

Cold Cleveland Lady – foto by smith

It took twelve hours, four airports, three plane rides, two countries just to go from 80 degrees Fahrenheit to 8 degrees. After 15 months of southern Mexican weather that ranged from 77 to 90 degrees, the 10 to 30 degrees here in Cleveland so far is brutal enough to hurt when we go outside. Serious cold is painful whereas excessive heat is merely uncomfortable.

My eyes are screaming for color. Cleveland is gray skies, decayed dusty gray brown buildings, gray concrete, frozen great lake, and colder than Rush Limbaugh’s heart would be if the fatfuck had one.

We rented a car for a week from Budget, and got ripped off – they gave us a car with 3/4s of a tank of gas, which we will of course have to fill up upon return.

Short changing folk and plain ripping them off pretty much seems to be Corpor-Rat policy in America the greedy.

On the other hand we just returned from the Unique Thrift Store where for $46 we bought two winter coats, three sweatshirts, two sweaters, two pair black dancer tights, a huge knitted shawl, a body-length sweater coat, a suede skirt, two pullovers and a pair of women’s dress shoes. Then at Family Dollar we got two more sweat shirts for $1.80 each. When you’re new cold, you buy warm clothes fast, and it helps reduce prices when spring is three weeks away.

My body is cranky, this being my second day without grass. Having smoked for 42 years, I’m used to the endless cycle of having/not-having grass and know it takes me three days to get used to being without. The past 15 months I smoked grass and hash every day–in fact have never smoked so much so long– and the last two months added some opium. Good thing I waited until just before we left to try opium because it is highly addictive and I discovered I like it a lot. Takes away pain and is the very definition of mellow–you don’t get stoned so much as wondrously laid back. It’s rather subtle smoking, wee bit heavier eaten.

I’m in greater pain up here thanks to the discomfort of travel, the excessive cold which aggravates my arthritis, and the lack of grass (marijuana reduces both pain and inflammation). Three months ago when Lady told me she needed to move back home for family and friends, I upped my grass intake from 3 joints a day to eight–basically smoked from noon to midnight every day. Figured if I were leaving the land of free and abundant smoke, I’d best saturate my cells.

We spent today buying food, essentials, warm clothes. Went to the West Side Market which is still the best and largest food market we’ve seen anywhere in our travels inside or outside the country. Tasted some marvelous cheese and bread. Mexico has mediocre cheese and worse bread–or is it the other way around? England has marvelous cheeses, as does Italy, and of course the best of both is France.

As we were tasting the cheese, a poet we hadn’t seen in three years tapped us on the shoulder and welcomed us back. That’s the good part of coming home, the friends, poets and artists one meets living in the same city for 29 years. We’re famous in the neighborhood here, already have a featured poetry reading for the two of us in May, and can easily get an art show or two once we’re ready.

Much more stuff of course, but this is adequate for our first day of living in America again. And yes, I know America refers to South, Central and North America, and even North America is inadequate because it refers to Mexico, U.S.A. and Canada, but in Mexico they called the U.A. America, and I’ve heard Canadians do the same, so fuck the Politically Correct Police and the fascist rules they rode in on.

(As I said, I’m crankier when cold and stoneless, but will quickly get used to both and once again return to my usual positive cheerful hopeful self).

Cold Cleveland Smith – foto by smith