Day Time Talk

Phil held the steady gaze he was known for,

his instruments choppy in the darkness under his eyebrows,

his upper lip twitching in anticipation

but its movements covered by the broom of his thick mustache.

Jimmy held the gates as long as he could,

and in a ceremony his effort would be commended,

his own eyes were shifty and betrayed him,

despite his resolve a single tear ran for freedom down his cheek.

The doctor bellowed for what he called justice

to an audience that was hungry to see blood spilled.

The doctor had caressed reality

but danced his way into a knot no one could untie.

They loved him for it,

following him like the Piper

because he looked them in the eyes and told them what to think,

that they should trust him without knowing him

and hide in the grey patches of hair above his ears.

Where are we? thought Jimmy's mind

in a world that breathed disaster from a con man's lungs.

He could not stop the rebellious tear,

he protested but his eyes were ready to give up,

his idea of what makes sense

was rewritten on a band wagon driven hard by

a mad scientist in a sharp shouldered suit

carrying an audience with a single ignorant mind.

Jimmy became a new man

worse than the man the doctor accused him of being.

Jimmy stopped believing

because Phil was heavy set, tailored, commanding,

and because the audience cheered for him,

not for Jimmy.

5.2007