HE
by Karl Gibson
He
didn't like splitting poles
said they separated you forever
I'd walk back around if I forgot
not because I believed
I found it
poignant
somehow
that
steel in cement could
be thought to part
unbreakable unions
He
said he'd been a former slave
who rebelled and was killed
rather than be subjugated
to unbearable
docile
insanity
not even for survival
And now
he was back
in a world
that could
and would
have to
bear
him
He
became risible at the jocular slap
on the sole of the foot
It ends someone's life
he said
and I laughed
but I did it
less and less
of course
and found other ways
to show
contentedness
He
said people prematurely
end their own lives
becoming sick
and shut in
Later
he didn't want to take
pictures of me
four years before
social media
on my way to work
in clothes that competed
with A-list
personages
whose clothes
cost more
yet you couldn't tell
After all
he'd said before
Hollywood
ends at our front door
And that's great
but it's all I
know
in this
sad
and vaguely
ominous
time
70 hours
a
week
He
said
give me the camera then
agitated
annoyed
and I
sensing
the unintended imposition
took my Nikon back
impudently
angry
hurt
You used to love to take pictures
of me
but now
not so much
An ending near
I didn't see
my two selfies
filtered by fate
and not knowing
blurred
in triplicate
He
told me that I didn't
sign up for this
I told him of course I
did
Until death do we part
and it's not coming anytime soon
The husky
warm
laugh
from
a
telephone
in the Valley
never to be heard
again
He
visits me sometimes
in dreams
sometimes lost
for directions
yet looking
in a San Francisco
we never saw
together
He
is immaculately dressed
big boys can dress right
and smell terrific
He asks me what I want
and he'll be right back
He
is
busy
Always busy
and I ask him
actually
implore him
can we just be
take a
nap
with me
just
for a little
while
He
disappears
and we both know
intuitively
that I cannot follow
but I know
he is
well
and I am
haunted
no more
