Leslie Kleinberg
lkleinberg@hotmail.com

12 AM August 7

at the end of the Patsy Cline tape
I was surprised to hear my own voice
a leftover from a phone interview

"That seems like a good place to end," I said,
and at that moment the alarm went off
(Yes I'm working methodically, 12 AM).
 

1 PM August 7

I missed it.
I was in the car or flipping through CDs.
Blue grid, stepped windows
Vents like asterisks near the sky.
Repairs and refinishing
Woman in striped diagonals
Birds on the building
Woman orating a sermon to no audience,
Draped in purples and strands.
My own reflection in a man's head out the window,
His friend's shirt is hip British pastiche
googly graphic
"Cardiff Coffee Joint"

I was looking at this bedraggled twentysomething
(Dirty in all the right ways)
I realized it was Squid
(an old friend with an odd name)
I was looking at a business car over the register
I realized it was an old friend's.