Taken With Myself
David J Walker
It has come to my attention
That all too often
I have Taken to Talking to myself
Out loud
So
I’ve taken to wearing Ear Buds
As a plausible cause
I’ve taken to faking conversation
With a totally unknown but convincing
Party to whom I am assumed speaking
I’ve taken to laughing at cleaver phrasing
That only I am thinking never saying
A single word for anyone else to hear
I’ve taken to dangling sentences
never finished
As if in an argument that can’t be won
I’ve taken to smiling and MmmmmHmmming in
Agreement as I’m shopping for whatever I can find
In the frozen food aisle
I’ve taken to grand gesturing as if I was Italian
Using my hands to accent every word spoken
While driving the tollway alone
I’ve taken to ending with
Love You Too
In the presence of young women who might
wonder if there is something more to
what they are seeing pushing a small cart
of Diet Coke & Ding Dongs around the store
Prophesy,
that sphere beyond reason
Belief as its bridgework
—faith as its troll
(Dreamsleep: September, 2020)
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