& This & That

Personal history irrelevant,
his own or who he's walking toward right now.

Moves like a sequence of blank footage
past cars, across the road, onto the verge,

pure instrument of contract,
raising a hand

and reducing a man/woman to something
on the pavement outside an apartment block;

transaction outside the legal channels,
communication concerning

the gravity of a debt or marriage failed;
no response expected.

Seeds the air, the shot, with filaments of
desire, regret, satisfaction, etc., and shapes the way

you look up at the sky and what you feel
even days later, reading the paper

when it flickers in a brief paragraph;
...