A disheveled man
Taking advantage of uneven cracks
Represented in the parking lot.
Anchored his pickup in the corner, utilizing blacktop edges
As unearthed punji sticks to ward off visitors.
He dispensed his belongings from the cab,
Leaving articles of clothing, gutted electronics,
Crucifixes, rotten fruit and vegetables, empty soup cans,
In multicolored mounds at his wheels.
Bird songs narrated
Two eyes meeting.
A parking lot’s length of distance
Measured how close we came
To learning our Story.

The road veered along a curve,
Symbols posed the way.

Green splotches, defined by kaleidoscopic hues
Dotted the marshland. A turtle head disturbed
One of their shapes, exposing liquid eyes
Before retreating, underneath the ripples.

Strangers acclimated to private thoughts
Posed an about-face stare. Shoe peeping
Adjusted head-nods, foreshadowing
Further interactions. Moments ignored
As normal, left to instinct, of what
They could be
if a screen
facilitated the interplay.

Nostalgic examinations
Operate with a mason’s precision
Laying upon
What flesh,
What brick,
What tongue,
What baluster,
What porch?
Emoji adaptations, chosen with praise
For instinctual
Memory
vandalize,
“a smile there.
there permanently.”