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.
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