Stillness

Woman on the meridian, panhandling, sneakers collapsed, face shuttered.

November chilled cement

Outside the liquor store, man with his head down. Is he weeping?

His body a curled comma, head covered by an ugly toque

Unlikely pom pom dandling.

A cuff of dirty skin where bony knees jut through filthy fabric

I walk by, chance a look back. He doesn’t unfold.

Change jangles in my pocket unannounced 

Head home 

Under ominous skies

Outside a howling rattles the windows, parties with the wind chimes, slinks down the chimney with a whistle howl.

Glass and curtain muffled

The dog snores

The furnace hums

I am curled like a half question mark

A pause of stillness

An intersection of inadequate awareness

Gaze returning to the unsheltered

Dark side of the glass

Imagining the weary

Waiting 

Stillness