THE WALK
Every day, whatever the weather I walk around the neighborhood.
It’s gated and comfortably isolated with circles of streets
To explore and upon which to muse.
The midafternoon sun splinters into shards of light
Between the leaves of Washingtonian palms
Standing watchfully about, guardians of the fortress.
Oh no, here comes Mrs. O’Leary with
Her little cow dog Cecil and oh
I hope that little cow rat doesn’t scratch my shins yet again.
With my next step I’m standing and stumbling in a desert.
Empty and I mean empty save for sand stretching to the rim of a perfectly circular horizon.
The sand and sun are pure white and the sky a cloudless brilliant blue.
There is no sound, no sound at all.
I spin around twice looking for my fortress, surrounded by silence.
A thick black snake slithers silently across the sand passing right over my feet,
Strangely accelerating as it makes for the horizon.
I must be dreaming, dreaming! But how can I be dreaming?
And again like that there is a man,
Nondescript and very tan,
Standing thirty or forty yards away.
He wears a tan t-shirt, like mine.
A thin black beard,
Tennis shoes.
His eyes meet mine for an instant.
They fire missiles at the speed of light.
My legs turn to water and I collapse on my back.
I stare up at the white, white sun, body numb.
Heart burning can’t breathe and in the next instant
I am somewhere else.
The interrogation room, oh yes a place I remember well,
Down to the black tooth in the detective’s sneering mouth.
This time I will answer yes. Yes, yes, yes.
I do not want to be free but not free.
Now I am nose to nose with t-shirt man
With handcuffs hanging from one of my hands. I do not look him in the eye but
I slash his face with it, inexplicably enraged.
I will not look him in the eye, no sir.
He crumples into the sand and is gone and now I am
Where? In agony in the air, far beyond repair.
My body an inch from being ripped vertically in two.
I scream inside but no sound comes out.
To my left, a bloody face with unperturbed eyes.
I beg for help I think and I look at the sun.
Now I am drowning in a sea of bloody red water,
Gasping and flailing, my heart half-ripped and raging,
Hand still with handcuffs and boom the water is gone.
What the hell is going on? Free but not free.
At last I hear something, walls of water
Bellowing accusations and thundering humiliations,
And the solitary snake speeding toward me across the mud.
The snake frightens me to my feet.
I turn and try to run but I’m lucky I can limp.
Cecil is scratching my shins, drawing blood.
Mrs. O’Leary and I exchange a laugh,
I lift Cecil up into my arms
And hug him as I’ve never hugged before.
