NEWMAN

I saw him last week 
in his baseball cap and dungarees, 
sitting on his Jeep. 
He had just come back from Hungary. 
It was quite a bit 
since we'd talked, and I was eager 
to know if his trips 
in Europe made him any bigger. 
"Well, I learned," he said, 
"that some women call poison a gift, 
regard pain as bread. 
In some places to make love is 'theft,' 
'kneading dough' in Dutch, 
in Greece 'like riding a horse,' in Spain 
cogere (to catch), 
scopare (to sweep) -- that's Milan -- 
Germans 'roll around,' 
the Russians 'have contempt for someone,' 
the old up-and-down, 
the French 'jump.' Ah! Linguistics -- such fun!"

--Duane Vorhees