"FACINGFACES 2002 - 04" SELECTED POETRY (Part 2)

Magenta Skin

Magenta skin around
my eyes; something wicked
to remember him by. So many
secrets, no
release--emotion
wrapped inside
an ache--barren
landscape without
and within. No joy
cast on the unseen
path, no direction
left to follow.


Peep Hole

Thump
on the door. Just the
Sears Christmas Wish Book
or Canadian Tire?

For once, you respond-
relaxed
but city-conditioned
to venture

a peep.
As always, the hallway stretches away
farther than fact,
like a passenger-side mirror.

Bright yellow
hovers by the faded
silver gleam of an elevator door.
Quarter-turn clockwise

releases the catch. You
look out
long enough to see
empty floor and the

nearer, clearer
shoulder curve just past the
stairwell exit.
Another tenant on his way

out? Back in and click
and thoughts of dinner
and one more revision
while time still allows.

Turn back.
Whispered sense leads the eye
back to the peep hole.
Yellow jacket

already closer
than the unaided
eye would allow.
He winds his way,

reaching at your end for the waist-
level handle.
No warning rattle, just the
slow, silent

rise and fall
that matches your
breathing.
Or is that his?

© Betty Dobson - Canada