I cannot climb a telephone pole

to take thick green glass insulators

be a thief of conversations not my own

purely because the color caught my magpie gaze

she did this far too frequently and so

stern-faced men in dark official suits

knocked on our red door to tell her to stop

she just smiled at them and said of course

I knew she was not sorry because she laughed

and threw one of the domes at the door

when I would visit after I escaped

I would see the gash in the blood-like paint

a mocking reminder of her power to flaunt any rule

he never repaired it, and I wondered

if sometimes she scared him too

when I was a child, I knew this

no action no word no thought no dream

would greatly affect the world

no more so than a laughing dancer’s graceful wave

a passing motorcyclist’s warning yell

a busy technician’s silent musing

a dying patient’s sedated nightmare

for a while I forgot, ignorant of emptiness

thought that I mattered more somehow

walked in protest wrote researched articles

reasoned with considered logic aspired to impossible goals

old now at an age I never thought to reach

I laugh at that interlude shake my head

back to having clearer eyes though my vision fails

but you, you! why do you bother? please don’t read my foolishness

perhaps I had burned my hand

held my palm (had my palm held) to the hot stove

I was home alone (was not alone)

you know how careless children can be

(I was never a careless child)

she said that was so possible,

a reason why he was able to find me

there alone on the road in the dark

and all that happened afterwards

who knows?

(three people knew. two lied.)