Fabbricabile

Whisper of a blue scarf, leading smoothly
a slight jacket of red, Irish-brown
hair alight the figure minding her step,
not minding me; laden and zipped up
unnaturally, the fastener taut under my chin,
minding myself and the stop-string
and my hair draped over it.

Automatic and hand-me-down laments
mingle with thoughts about poetry
and smoke and readings, work and the bus
concise and absorbing.