“i’ve seen your
ass but
not your mouth.
that’s normal now”,
she said.
all the couples
scattered about
the listening area
turned
and looked
at each other,
smiling.
the more demure of
the pair
making a coy face
and moon eyes.
or maybe it was
the less demure
doing so.
not knowing she was
lightly mocking them,
thinking they are
in on the joke.
feeling very much a
part of it all.
i stood there
alone, watching,
listening.
the pair in front of me were
young, the
type of young
where one of them
already looks adult
but the other
still looks child.
and the adult looking one was just
searingly beautiful.
and the child looking one was
curly headed and
looking forward to
the possibility of
beauty.
they held on to
each other for the
entirety of their
time there in the
listening area.
i stole glances
at them
as often
as was
safe.
i made up stories
about them
in my
head
as i
listened.
as i watched.
once the
listening
was over
i lost them
in the crowd.
the crowd
spilling itself
out into the
rain.
i walked alone
and listened to
excited snippets of
conversations,
until
all the excited people
were gone from me
and i was
fully alone
on an eastern facing street
in the far west.
the only sound remaining
being that of
passing
and sporadic
traffic,
being that of
lightly falling rain,
being that of
her,
she,
back there,
saying,
“icebergs,
icebergs, icebergs,
ice – bergs”.
today the clouds are still
prevalent, but
they aren’t so close,
so beseeching.
hillsides are visible
today,
the tip of
the mountain,
hidden
in cloud.
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