Across A Girl
Across The Road

“lem me go!” she exclaims
she complains

some boy or other
always snatching at her

open hand closing
about the back of her neck

half a noose, she wants to be loose
to be free, to be liberated

they want her tied
try time and time again, to tie her up
to tire her

but indefatigably, she strikes back
acts out, acts up

lights out, I make her out,
I hear her mouth

in a group along the side of the road
in dark, lit only by headlamps
of vehicles coming and going

I'm drawn to her, attached to her
though, most likely, she's unaware

as if fishing for her, with lines of poetry
so many of these, as if in dark waters
dangling

my pen, my fishing rod
I a fisherman or a spider with web
with her entangled in it


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2006
8:17 p.m. 15.09.06