difficulty in walking

(I wanted to forget this one... it's literally back with a vengeance)

difficulty in walking

conscious and not
tired and awake
straggling with sore knees
bent, back like a beggar

quick, there’s a sale at Yorkdale
diamonds on Bay Street, go become a lawyer
drain your brain of Sammy Twain
Huck Finn and his Nigger Jim, and sly Tom Sawyer

I prefer the uptown traffic
the easy pace of the Avenue
condo folk talk Tommy Hilfiger
I dry out over the Globe, inside a Second Cup

I am disappearing in a thousand ways today
from all my loved ones
spiders shirk the windy corridors
stillness feeds insects and poetry

I lit the candle in the attic, set it on fire
but I smelled the café bagels
blueberry maple and cream cheese
and was reminded of my stomach

I drive down the street and park my Buick
pop the trunk and grab the notebook
buy a coffee and sit
and cough on my pen
I peek at pretty visions—
but they don’t look at scary men

(Oct '03)