I sit
watch the flow
of people
the shuffle of feet
with their different sounds
according to their shoes
I see shapes of faces
unsmiling lips
their void curve
denounce this night
yet unseen
the gossamer curtain’s
fall
that defines
their soul’s duality
the divergent reality
through which
truth stumbles blind
to move in the world
rough as a rope
taut as every promise made
frayed as wisdom
leaned in
whispered from behind
block the fist
ease the ego
broker détente
bandage wounds
tend the bruises
the insults
grab at time
like dropped money
I might learn
a thing or two
tonight
but someone
must release the light
so I can shine
like a little boy
who likes ice cream
most of all
this boy
reads old men’s minds
he does not eat meat
I will not eat meat
so I notice the shoes
the belts
the bags
all made of leather
I feel a shiver
a sad imbalance
a confliction
in my soul
so
I’ll practice non-attachment
because I can
but pieces of me
stick
to whoever gets too close
you may have seen me
silhouetted against the sky
the coldest night in January
howling
with the frozen moon
a duet
to make coyotes
cower in their dens
then moon and I
sneak
among cages of studs
& trusses
we run
from room to imaginary room
the whole world
close enough to touch
we eat a midnight lunch
white cheese sandwiches
perfumed with foreign lands
and onion thoughts
layered deep
show mercy
peel back the layers
peel me away
thin by thin
skin by skin
to my quivering soul
I hope I am not
hideous in your sight
these thoughts
become too heavy to hold
or chew
or swallow
or lug in a massive bag
my thoughts
bonewhite lies
of morality plays
open for you to peak
hope they are not
hideous in your sight
hope they do not
make you cry
as you peel back
all the layers
onion
thought
layers
held fast and firm
like a carapace
to which
I’m stitched
and welded
and can no more leave
than you can truly enter
they tie me down
sometimes
but sometimes
barely so
survivor that I am
the inescapable optimism
in my barebones grin
flashes
in the brittle moonlight
a patrolman
comes to where I sit
to see
his beam
blinds the stars
from my eyes
beneath his warm smile
his radar eyes
scan the forgotten creases
and clandestine getaways
in my mind
standing over
he looks down
one of us can learn
a thing or two tonight
if someone
will release the light
inspired by a readwritepoem prompt
• digital art above, entitled “drifting/dreaming”, created by the author
