David Weinstock
		Two Passports 1981 The Secretary of State it was Alexander Haig hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen named herein this young man, dark face shining from black curls, with deep Osama eyes to pass without delay or hindrance from Boston to Australia, to visit his father; I think you will like him: look for a blue Oxford shirt, a foulard silk tie, its knot at a slight declination from true vertical; other creative touches distinguish him: the left wing of an eagle spreads slowly across his broken nose; on his beard, arrowheads clustered like Shiraz grapes bunch black in the starlight, longing to be wine; he will arrive in a drizzle; Australians will apologize for the weather. 2001 The Secretary of State that would be Colin Powell hereby requests, and prie, and solicita, that this same man, though no longer young or dark, receive the same consideration; he has no tie, and no father, and no current plans to fly; he carries this to assure you and himself that he is a citizen still, and what’s more a citoyen, and even a ciudadano, suggesting a café dandy who wastes his life in Madrid; On his lower lip like a cigarette rests the nocked butt of an arrow. Still he is one of us; for my sake let him pass. *Author’s note: After the September 11 terrorist attacks, I heard that airlines would be requesting additional forms of photo ID, so I decided to renew my passport. The contrast between my two photographic selves, at 29 and 49, struck me so strongly that I started carrying both documents around in my wallet, here around town, as talismans. I really do feel safer, magically, toting a current passport. I don't relish the prospect that some day Americans (like everyone else) will need to have national identification papers, but I much prefer to have my citizenship attested by the State Department than by so lowly an agency as the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles. About my "Osama eyes"--I've been fascinated by the pictures of the handsome terrorist Bin-Laden, with his soulful face--but really it's not an uncommon look. All of us non-white white guys have eyes like that. - David Weinstock 10/4/2001