You sit on a bench on Walnut Street
texting with a boomerang smile the wine

glasses around you cycling out strangers
and I want to ask you for a drink you ask

about my bags of food I’m bringing back
to work and the sky is cerulean your voice

in the cacophony of cars starting stopping
the crowd around us whispering midday

in the sunshine I want to walk free without
work I’d say the first bite this world is yours


(originally published in Fleas on the Dog, Summer 2020)