Jacques
Yesterday I heard that another of my
childhood heroes had died. I’d never
met him, never spoken with him or seen him,
except on TV, but felt that I had
lost a mentor. I was shocked
to find that he had a wife,
mistress, son, stunned to think
that he’d had bills to pay,
maybe used sun block, probably
left scraps of paper in his
back pockets for his wife to
find in the washing pile,
conceivably locked himself out
of his car and, like the rest of us,
used a coat hanger to break in.
In that past era of Star Trek he furnished me
with another world to discover. One beneath
the placid surface. Closer, geographically,
than the far-flung stars, but just as alien
and impenetrable. More so, in fact, because
it belonged on earth. A world of depth
and black and white (and later, colour)
inhabited by strange, beautiful
back-lit creatures with names
like cuttlefish and manta rays.
When you came home from work
I mapped the progress of my day
and, as an addendum, told you of
my loss. I was unprepared for the sight
of the same grief flitting across your mouth.
Page(s) 29
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