I get another span of privacy
before the seat beside me’s occupied
and open up this book: three minutes free
to put to words the gloom I host inside…
No sooner written than it came to be –
as quick as ballpoint ink was laid and dried,
a fellow took the space but doesn’t see
my writing, for he’s studying a guide.

Arrest Report Appendices, I note,
as I allow my glance a shifting right
and mark his shaven head, his hairy toes
in Birkenstocks, his youth a bright
momentum, quiet energy at bay,
infecting me resiliently today.