Plastic Balls
for Ariadna de la Torre

how dare you utter such a line
who wrote this script

a play, a dream or life itself
you and I together in it, whatever genre

my offer aimed far shy of direct

though friendly, impersonal ways
learned in a country, if not sterile,
a bit removed or far removed from real

must maintain arm's length
must extend a wooden arm for a handshake

call this sophisticated and it is—artificial
like plastic plants and plastic flowers

plastic to eat off, to eat with
instead of cutlery, instead of bone china

what am I to hold to help you off the bus

your backpack—of what load was I to relieve you
to enable you, to assist you to the ground

what to take from your back or from your arms

and Cuba with impatience, tells The Bahamas
to take her in his arms

“Me!" she almost shouts, blurts out
in response to my, what if anything

would you like me to hold


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
29.08.09