things are skewed when you catch them
out of the corner of your eye
you look
what you thought you saw isnt
what you see saw something other is in
its steadyou recognise hints of what might have directed your imagining what you did see part of a dream snagged on a tree branch in a reflection in a mirrorface a store window in the
waves of heat radiating out of the ground
things are a little different
when they surprise youout of the corner of your eye and you stop and look at them directly and they acknowledge you a
raised eyebrow a subtle head nod a hand gesture and you acknowledge them and then they transform into something else very
concreteyou can walk up to and touch talk to it if you wantedhe talked
he wonderedquestioned
Why?
Why?
it wasnt like it disappearedit transformed
he witnessed its transformation
he walked into the hall out of the studio where he wrote
across from the studio door was
the bathroom door a slight offset
the front door to the house was
open
in the halllooking to his leftover
his shoulder through the screen door looking over the gravel drive to his
neighbours lot on its raised
earthwork an Indian stood in a loincloth he held a crude bow and a clutch of arrows in
his left hand
seeing him through the
screen the Indian raised his right his
palm facing him
he stopped completely in the hall
he turned and faced the Indian
he raised his left his palm flat to the Indian
then the Indianstill erectstill
looking at him slowly began to shrink
and as he shrank he transformed into the
tree stump that had grown in the earthwork
he crossed the livingroom to the
screen door
it wasnt until he was at the door
that he realised his hand was still uppalm faced out
opening the door with his right
he walked out onto the front porch
it was an overcast day
it threatened rain
it rained yesterday
but it didnt smell like rainit
smelled cooled refreshed moist
the tree stump was as it was
he wondered if the Indian hadnt
been transformed into a tree for some transgression
later forced to bear his
amputations
rendered
belittled
he saw a strong young manit was
curious to him that anyone would take a tree down into a five foot
stump and leave it to weather
it didnt throw greenshoots during
the Spring
it was simply a stoic stump a
remnant
of what once was
he turned away
he walked back into the houseshut the screen door behind himwalked through the livingroom to the hall
he felt he was being watched
he turned once more and looked a tree stump
he doesnt look at the tree stump
the same way any more
he doesnt have any idea
how to help
he thinks that somehow he is supposed to help that is his nature
whenever he walks past the
stump descending the driveway to the
street below he acknowledges him then quietly asks how he can help
Stoic
no matter
that wouldnt stop him from asking
he knew what he saw
that was unshakable
1312, Monday,
12 3. 18
