Safe Distance
Three feet away, she reads River-Horse
in a winter hat, even though Alabama
is warm in November, warm like
spring in the Northeast, with which
I’m more familiar, having gotten my start
in the Berkshire hills and stayed just south
of Canada for most of my life. She is
twisting the back of her hair, the pendant
around her throat dangling over the pages.
She says she’s thinking of giving up
nursing school to drive to Colorado;
she says she needs to travel, to explore,
to get away from the walled-in-ness
that comes with an academic life.
And look, we all understand there’s a lot
I’m not writing here. I’m a little surprised
I’m able to type at all, being as I’m just
three feet away, which is nowhere near
a safe distance.
30 November 2012
Auburn, AL
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