Creative Nonfiction: Bruxelles Sonata

By John Yohe

 

i

at least here I can wear a scarf + not be weird, eating fries every day as one of the 4 basic belgian food groups along w/gaufres beer + chocolate tho I just eat falafels—cheap + where working class folks eat—no dutch spoken just français but cold february day w/stinging hail then voilà soleil comes out right here in the heart of international bureaucracy run by Germany who seems not to care that Amerique just blew up the Nordstream pipeline cutting off cheap gas supply from Russia so germans are freezing this winter—people freezing here in Bruxelles too but they just dont pay the gas bills no one gets evicted or even billed unlike in the U.S.—but an act of war against Germany + they do nothing no one cares b/c it was supposed to be an act of war against Russia who is doing fine tho Germany now has to buy gas from Merica which is convenient—all for Merica’s proxy war w/Russia using Ukraine as the sacrifice + last time I checked being an ally of nazis makes one a nazi but since 2020 american media mysteriously stopped talking about Ukraine’s nazi problem—what I mean to say is that Merican Empire is the problem which no one here will acknowledge except two representatives from Ireland spitting fire to an empty chamber—maybe Ireland can save western civilization again like during the Middles Ages to which it seems we are heading again meaning feudalism + a return to not being able to read but meanwhile lets wander narrrow streets of cobblestone for a place to piss—all the european cities have the cute old middle age centres to do tourist shit surrounded by the banlieus of people living in rabbit hutches

 

ii

belgian flag flying over the palace tonight meaning the king is home tho there’s only one lit window off to the side on the top floor—the king alone in his bedroom watching Netflix—belgians proudly proclaim that 50% of Brussels is wooded and/or parc but most of the parks arent even wooded w/roads not paths—their central park trees werent even good enough (tho wet + leafless now) they had to put in a couple bars so people can drink beer while listening to techno—Brussels an extroverted town or the introverts are mostly holed up in apartments—I come out only for un thé vert at a café or un film mais il n’y a pas de movies—the last three lockdown years seems to have destroyed the indie film scene—only ones out already seen back aux Etats-Unis so reading books—new yoga place nearby offers unlimited 2 semaines for only 40 euros so I/ve been having a mini yoga retreat—2 or 3 classes par jour all in english—everything is in english—the vaguely monotone american accent w/random inflections thrown in depending on the speaker—the second I make one little mistake en français everyone switches to english even if their english is worse than my french tho that doesnt happen much—dutch speakers get english all the way thru school b/c no ones going to learn dutch—seawater will rise + wash the Nederlands away soon anyways—much as I/d like to see George W. Cheney Rumsfield + Bolton at the Hague or even Biden + Obama—war criminals are war criminals but propaganda strong—most people think the ukrainian army a bunch of democracy-loving rainbow flag wavers just like they believed the lies about covid lockdowns—w/enthusiasm

 

iii

doing the Hemingway thing living in Europe writing everyday—so far a short story + book review which I hope to even get paid for—coming all the way to Belgium to read a quebecoise writer—Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba keeping the fight alive for the defense of the earth thru actions + stories—I went to the weekly monday night rally for Julian Assange—bunch of old communists singing Paris Commune songs—beautiful but for who—out front of the Munt Punt library w/all the tourists-shoppers walking by—some tv cameras but only about 20 of us for freedom of press + speech—Assange being punished for years for publishing crimes by Democrats—he was ok when exposing Bush war crimes but not proof of corrupt primaries—not sure you/d get 20 people in all Merica to come together to support Assange—not true but how I feel these days—dissenting voices stifled everywhere—traveling this winter b/c who knows if we/ll get locked down again permanently—living off savings from the teaching job I quite back in Colorado—best thing I ever did for the health of my body + mind—may not go back—not the teaching I minded but the administration—bureaucracy everywhere—better to be poor than micromanaged by righteous psychopaths tho that may be the world we live in now—may always have been—belgian chocolate coming from old dutch colonies in Afrique—still hard to think of Belgium as a colonial or political power at all but the Belgian Congo where Conrad’s Heart of Darkness takes place—this shouldnt even be a country—should just belong to France + Nederlands—Caeser wrote that the belgae were the fiercest european tribes he encountered—the capital of Europe now + no one really cares

 

 

 

 

 

John Yohe, born in Puerto Rico, has worked as a wildland firefighter, wilderness ranger and fire lookout. He is a Best of the Net nominee x2 and has been featured on the Notable Essay List for Best American Essays 2021, 2022 and 2023.