timeline

yesterday
i was a modern woman.
my boots clicked against wooden panels
and i hurried off to
the many places
to meet the many people
i was supposed to meet
many minutes before.
i scuffed my hair,
and the passerby
broke my intent
and shattered my gaze
away from the pavement.
the meetings i made
meant moving hands in stiff gestures
like perpendicular palms
and straw, crinkling fists.
but i had to run-
so with uppity verses
and upward ending
intonations,
i left.
(the linear intensity i stirred around me
distracted me
from the forgotten memories
from days
when lines of control
blurred into a soft fuzz-
all blankets and lotioned skin.
unspoken patterns
of dissent now
echoing back
dissolved words or thoughts
that guided
years of disorientation.)

DLS