Attention

July 22, 2009 in Poetry

you raise a brightly colored flag,

but you don’t see it hit the top of the pole

because as your hands tug the rope

your eyes are looking at sidewalks and benches,

at the level of others

but no one is around.

with the flag up and a dull wind nudging,

you just stand for a moment and feel

the lack of  meaning in that liquefied area of time.

the feeling of pointlessness is something

you awake from

like a reptitive daydream

about being somewhere else.

again you look to the level of others,

this time with new determination.

the lack of people is urgent,

a vacancy that is uncomfortable.

you lose all patience and drop

to your knees on the crumbly asphalt

that is the surface of the parking lot

where you happen to be.

it’s summer so the pebbles are burning,

they grind deep into your knees and shins,

microscopic rocks.

the company of all those rocks isn’t anything

when it comes to destroying the loneliness you feel.

you roll on the ground with the sting of the roasting

hard little objects pressed onto your body.

you give a sigh that you know is exaggerated.

it gurgles and fades because no one’s around.