The Local World by Rosenthal Mira;

Author:Rosenthal, Mira;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Kent State University Press

THE BORDER

a room partitioned by Formica countertop and glass

a woman at a desk, her nose bobbing, placing checks in columns

inexorably

what does it mean to pass to fit behind a face?

a see-through pane of glass that’s made all wall and then all window by

shifting light

a line of worn-out people waiting for a status

a way of plainly maintaining sanity: forms approved, biography that’s

spoken for

what does it mean to be of a mind to find your thoughts are specious?

an arbitrary edge, a being on edge

a homeless man who can’t stand still but tries to keep his place in line

while prancing like a tap dancer, shoes all cracked and black with

grime

an urge to have a turn

what does it mean to be checked off to pass the threshold of repletion?

an urge for a turn at the counter, a quiet ma’am, may I?

a tensing of all joints to hold his agitated state of mind, become a

soldier at the window, or maybe more a boy at attention, ready for

his merit badge, prize for first place

an urge to say you’re here, complete, a being on the verge

what does it mean to cross to be received to reach the sanctum of the tenable?

a stance the man’s feet cannot keep

a sudden seizure of tapping stirring his legs, possessing his hips, a

rhythmic beat against the wall dividing here from there

a glance of understanding the woman gives the man

a little crack in the glassed-in panel that separates us from them, a

space where her arm uncoils to place an apple in his hand

what does it mean to see the self in contrast to attract one’s inverse

madness to alleviate a lack?

an act of witness, how the man takes up a march back down the line,

salutes each one of us in turn still waiting patiently

an inexorable ceremony of charity

a limit in each one of us that makes us look away

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