it is my first trip to Niagara Falls
as the cascading waters dance like crazed Flamenco dancers
I stare in amazement at the wide-eyed tourists
and wonder why anyone but Japanese men with Nikon cameras give a fuck?

as my father lifts me to watch the rushing waters through a telescope
I secretly train the lens on
the wonderfully cascading breasts of a Swedish tourist
and experience feelings I have never known before.

it is the first trip to Niagara Falls
but not the last.
I am condemned by the accident of geography to a life sentence
as an unpaid tour guide for friends and relatives from as far away as North Dakota.

as I grow older the vision of the beautiful breasts of the Swedish tourist
vanish as quickly as the Niagara Fall’s mist
replaced by images of discarded souvenir salt and pepper shakers
and the condoms of young newlyweds discarded
after the two minute consummation of their marriage.