Friday Poem

Dark Passage

The body goes on in the world
about its business of escaping
from Alcatraz and you are eyes

seeing the convertible, the driver,
the bridge, and Agnes – and you
are the gravelly voice-over going on

and on in an incessant obligato.
Then you meet a weird doctor
who promises your voice and eyes

a face, saying, as he unwraps
the bandages, “You will always look
a little older, but feel a little younger,”

and you stare into the mirror
and yes, you are not and are
yourself, your voice, body, and face

in a kind of long-armed,
lop-sided accord and you
wonder what the story will be

by Nils Peterson