26. Listening to Aphrodite's Child's '666' in the Parking Lot of the Tigard Babies 'R' Us at Night
I had thought it would be better than this.
I had thought it would be more profound.
Like a prophet shunned in his hometown.
But it was a drab night, and the neon shone
like the TVs in suburban homes.
I knew that there was something there
but I didn't know what it could mean.
Like the sunrise on a prophet's dream.
It was a dull fire, and its embers shone
like the TVs in suburban homes.
The moment wandered by me,
transmission shifted out of park,
and a phrase was scrawled down in the dark
to ferment until now, and the moment shone
like the blue lights on the walls
of suburban homes.
Dave K. of the much-missed Sauvie Island Moon Rocket Factory had gotten me into Aphrodite's Child, then I found their 666 album at a garage sale, and then I recorded that onto a minidisc, and then I went out tutoring in the endless western suburbs, and then I parked in the weird reclaimed-swamp lowlands of the Tigard Babies 'R' Us to eat snacks and listen to Greeks declaim the end of the world, and there was a green fog everywhere in the dark, and a Fiero was on fire in the parking lot of the Winco next door.
This is one of two songs with the same title on the Spirit Duplicator album Tonight I'll Forget the English Language. The other one talks about the Fiero if you are interested in hearing about 80s Pontiacs on fire.
