The Man in 5-B

There is a man
With a hat in his hand
Who floats through life
With a ready apology.
He appears sad, melancholy,
Nostalgic for something he never experienced
But desperately desired
Yet can no longer articulate or remember.
He walks to work,
An invisible clerk,
Carefully selects groceries
When he can afford them,
Occasionally treating himself to chocolate holiday eggs,
Rich and milky with creamy caramel centers,
Like the ones his mother used to give him,
One a day,
Making them last,
Savoring them slowly
Like rare bubbles of oxygen to a
Drowning man.
Toothbrush,
Stained mug,
Fabric chair with threadbare arms,
And a nice warm blanket that insulates him from harm,
Protects him from the thorny navigations and complications outside.
On weekends
When there is nowhere to go
He stays cocooned in bed
Wondering what it would be like to have what others do,
Like the woman downstairs in 4-D.
He considers these longings fleetingly
Then retreats again inside deprivation and comfort.

© Poem Fix http://www.poemfix.com 2012
Photo: Evan-Amos

George Shot Lennie

When George shot Lennie
Loneliness ensued,
As it is with all of us when we
Lose something close,
Lover, friend, dog, fish, dream.
Closeness to an object or an idea
Resists easy abandonment.
We cling to them like
Bad habits,
Unable to shirk,
Unwilling to release.
Memories, etched and ingrained,
Holding on no matter what,
Because we know instinctively
That a part of ourselves
Fades, crumbles, disintegrates
When a connection, good or bad,
Snaps.
Goodbye old friend, we mutter.
Adios my ball, my chain, my enemy, my tether.
Then welcome a quiet acquaintance,
And wonder how to survive without the
Remnant of spirited companionship.

© Poem Fix http://www.poemfix.com 2012
Photo: Image Entertainment, Of Mice and Men, Lon Chaney Jr. and Burgess Meredith