The Man With His Back To The Room

Even Dreaming Comes More Slowly

but there's one with fast water & mountains & cars that hold the road as if I might complete some trip

as if destiny were a fact & all we need do is be there like a giraffe needs tall trees & it

seems to play well unless the torrent is swift & logs & dead cattle & here's where a bend comes in handy

& a quick swim to the other side & a bonfire & someone hands me a cocktail with a cherry in it & my old friend Dave is laughing

with a new girl on his arm & invites me to take a break & I do going faster than we should down that

mountain road when the lights of the town come into view & there's a fire at city hall & a patrol poking

their noses in our windows wanting us to explain which we can't or wont or don't in time & they chase us

toward the river & the careening cattle & David jumps with his love & I steer into oncoming

lights before I'm clear of debris & wanting to get back to my dinner but can't find the way &

the last I see are the stains on my pants & the need for a bath & no one I know is in the room & my cocktail is warm & the cherry