A street encounter between acquaintances. What will they discover?
In 2020 Facebooks memory dredged up a status post from way back in 2010. I had completely forgotten about it but after years of ever increasing American polarization and its attendant personal trauma I found it more relevant than ever. From it I created found verse—making a poem simply by breaking up the lines exactly as originally written. I have discovered a few of these over the years. At least they are short and sweet and don’t drone on forever.
The late William Carey's sketch of the Old Poet reading.
An Encounter
Discovered in a Facebook status from
October 21, 2010
Pleasantries with a wave and nod acquaintance of some years.
Don’t know each other’s last names.
You know—weather, sports, a bit of family trivia.
A passing word betrays an affiliation.
The eyes narrow, the jaw sets just so.
In an instant the other, the enemy, the sub-human.
Whose eyes, whose jaw?
—Patrick Murfin
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