Sham Archeology
– Struggling to remove the splinter
in my foot. I can feel it
without knowing how
it is making its way in
or if it remains in the same
callused dwelling
it has made for itself
to inhabit.
*
I remember once having agreed
to a dinner with my old boyfriend.
We had already broken up.
Even the waitresses at the restaurant
were wiping down tables
& pulling at blinds when we arrived.
After we paid, we sat on a large rock
at the edge of the park & watched a taxi
turning its service light out.
A woman in a blue dress
stepped off the curb, violently waving
a folded bill, but the driver shook his head
and continued on.
*
I have only toenail clippers
so it is a dirty, difficult work.
What is sought
seems too discrete.
I don’t how to describe
what pain is too much to bear.
I can even scare myself
by leaving too many documents open
and, given the chance,
I will be careless for almost nothing.
