M. A. Shaffner
Next
Older than I used to think the world
stutters at a half step. We're all gray here,
cobwebs in our cars and noses, our smiles
thin and cracked, our varnish dull and flaking.
Seldom look in a mirror but marvel
at the gambit of the hour, the shimmer
of memory that makes recognition
never the same or certain of anything.
It makes us comrades, both known and unknown,
and conspirators in minor flattery.
It makes us owners of the small towns, the
cities within cities without pretension,
but their own breed of minor pride. In us,
soon to pass the comical mastery.
stutters at a half step. We're all gray here,
cobwebs in our cars and noses, our smiles
thin and cracked, our varnish dull and flaking.
Seldom look in a mirror but marvel
at the gambit of the hour, the shimmer
of memory that makes recognition
never the same or certain of anything.
It makes us comrades, both known and unknown,
and conspirators in minor flattery.
It makes us owners of the small towns, the
cities within cities without pretension,
but their own breed of minor pride. In us,
soon to pass the comical mastery.
Page(s) 58-59
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