Newspoem.

 

7 June 1999

the war

Just when you are able to concentrate, you step out of your office and in the hallway the War is taking a drink at the drinking fountain. You walk by before she can look up.

The War asks you if you can spare any change for some food. You wrestle with your self control as you walk by, painfully avoiding eyecontact.

The War is leaving a message on your answering machine, asking you if you are there to please pick up the phone. You look at the little teeth on the rotating axis that moves the wheels of the microcassette as it records the message.

You see her again on the same bus. This coincidence invites you to force events toward an invented destiny, but you don't know how.

She is on the escalator going up, you on the escalator going down. You smile helplessly.

"I just want to get to know you better."

"I'm sorry but"


Newspoetry at Spineless Books