One Afternoon’s Assorted Emotions

each and every event speeds away from us
the room is cramped
and we are confined within it
all we can do is watch, like we were sitting on
some unique planet
that didn’t move and that made us sit still with it
when an apple
drops from your hand in an instant of carelessness
we are both shocked, seeing it as an omen
perhaps it’s the truth
that we’ll both wind up like this:
two people abandoned by everything
there’s something special about this feeling
of being shut in, of being under some kind of curse
outside time and velocity
our feet become things of no use
this afternoon drags on—the one thing we are capable of doing
is to wait as the world screams on its way
with autumn once more outside our window

ONE AFTERNOON\'S ASSORTED EMOTIONS