Thursday, April 19, 2012

Invisible man


A Ruinous Thirst


Arvi’s black mutt-his misdirected bark,
gaze off target, vague, somewhere to my right
was the first clue, one of only two mind

you, there’d been no need for a third even
at my age, too old to feel so light on
my feet, young enough to notice I no

longer cast a shadow on the sidewalk;
Troublesome? sure, but I shake it off and
press on down the leafy street side-stepping

a meteor shower of furtive black
squirrels Un-Dog-Like, unable to detect
my presence not unlike the approaching

runner, a young woman, jaw set in sheer
determination her mouth turned down at
the corners left eyebrow arched ever so

slightly; vivid details I would have missed
had I not paced her for a block or two,
our four feet slapping in unison if

only for a moment, long enough to
Understand this new found transparency
did nothing to extend my flagging verve

leaving me bent and planted in the street
gulping great lung-fulls, hands on knees, awash
suddenly with ennui, come to grips with

the foolishness of impunity:  filched
candy bars, levitated hats, eavesdropped
private conversations, aware at last

of a ruinous thirst that leads me to
a garden hose attached to a nearby
house noticing too late the boys on bikes

agape at the long green charmed snake bubbling
in the driveway, marching wet prints in quick
succession trailing off down the street round

the corner to the front door that appears
to swing open of its own volition
up the stairs to the bathroom where I stand

for hours before the mirror, blue toothbrush
flitting to and fro like a furious
sparrow, awaiting my reappearance.

No comments:

Post a Comment