A Few Miles Off
Too many are leaving
usually they greet in sleep before dashing
as in today with this gentleman
(awkward not to type his name)
when yesterday in the shower
I remembered his face in Aardvark
something about NWA but not about them
just a played reference
There were newspaper clips
all police brutality, all framed with snow
& I vaguely recalled something
about Uma Thurman & the Menils
when the guard ushered me out
for touching the African sculptures
I waited in the lobby for hours
like this morning reading
that he overdosed. It was a hotel
& I didn’t even know him
I don’t even know his work
Copyright Credit: Micah Ballard, "A Few Miles Off" from Waifs and Strays, City Lights Spotlight No. 6. Copyright © 2011 by Micah Ballard. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.
Source: Waifs and Strays (City Lights Books, 2011)