Grace

Glance at a woman on a train platform.
Suddenly we've been married for years.

I know all the delicate nuances
in her nine dialects of silence.

Can pick her from a thousand others
just with a sniff of her neck.

We sit next to each other, as we always have.

Our elbows touch, like the tips of matches.
Exactly the way I remember.

When she says excuse me, this is my stop,
There is nothing awkward about it.




"Grace" from Alibi School. Copyright © 1995 by Jeffrey McDaniel. Reprinted with the permission of Manic D Press www.manicdpress.com.