Through the propriety
Of the gaps
Between you and the rooftops
A rhythm of emptiness

Distraction by distraction we live
in the daily aftermath
—– of the grand burlesque;
—– an ever diminishing step

They always fidget. I see them from a distance, two at a time usually, huddling like frozen blackbirds on a telephone line. Most of them past middle-aged but always men, always thinking themselves younger and thinner than midlife’s reckoned.