CAUGHT


CAUGHT


"I know what you is"

grins this black dude
right behind me while we
descend from the bus in
Charlotte North Carolina

He must have spotted
the shiny silver star
hanging from my throat
like a five-leaf clover

"What is you?"

Tan plaid blazer
shiny black loafers
crisp shortbrim hat
I've worn that outfit
somewhere

Had we met during the ride
we probably would have
swapped imaginary stories
promised to buy one another
imaginary beers

I'd have bluffed my way
through the thamaturgical
antiquity of pentacles

He would have run up
a tall tale about his
grandmother's ghost

Not that I normally
discuss Witchcraft
in the Bible Belt
with just anybody

Once an old Mendicant nun
begging alms for the poor
in Hoboken New Jersey
noticed it too

"You have star of David?"

curled up on the pavement
her Italian accent
a little girl's singsong

"You Jewish?" she smiled

Oh well
six out of five ain't bad
so I returned the smile

"Is OK we all the faithful
someday we all come to God"

A sweet and tired
and lonely saint
reaching for anyone
to share the communion
of a dirty sidewalk

"I know what you is"
he repeats his mantra

For a moment
we lock eyeballs
his grinning with
a new found secret
mine looking to see if
it will stay that way

No holy roller this one
just a roller along life
taking each day while
Old Man Sol still shines

I nod slowly
and walk on

the humid sky
hovering over us
like a knit cap
and I silently muse

thanks pal
maybe you do and
maybe you don't but
when I find out myself
maybe I'll let you know
if you're right
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