barneys

i wouldn't have called it an epiphany, but it was one of those illuminating moments. one of those moments where somehow objects can speak to you, but people cannot.

violet was already more than half an hour late. i was half an hour into a warm flat beer. over the years i'd grown fond of this ritual of ours. the same table every time, the same view of the church across the road. violet arriving as one schooner has turned into three and i am glowing as much from expectation as i am from the alcohol.

well, well.

you haven't changed a bit, harry

the words sigh from her mouth, scraps of hair and earrings and shopping bags float all around her.

i sense her body relax as she slides onto the bar stool, long fingers clasping around a cold glass of beer, the stress of the day- the week- slipping away into the periphery.

what have you brought for me this time?

a glimmer of a smile flashes coyly across my face.

the dance has begun.

what makes you think i have anything for you?

violet takes up my cue effortlessly.

well,

i let the words ooze out from between my lips,

in all the years we've been coming here, i've never gone home empty handed...in one way or another...

i don't see why this year would be any different. besides, i know you, i know you couldn't stop yourself...

ha!

her wild eyes flick a sideways glance at me, a look that brings a familiar tingling across my skin.

well, i might as well get it over and done with, you asshole...

reaching into one of her bags.

hardly listening

coming in
to taiwan
the lights
of the city

are probably
a film projector
trained on a wall of clouds

it is impossible to get
good staff
in this country

you confide in me

through pursed lips

a half-peeled mandarin
in your hand.

and i imagine,

that for you,
it is.

the white desert

we drove through desolate
pop art landscapes
for the good part of the day
our conversation drooled back and forth
without punctuation
or cadence

and we came close to achieving
extraterrestrial beauty
in those brief exchanges.