Yesterday Almost

I call my house from a cellphone.

I’ve just seen a girl in an empty parking lot.

We used to think something of each other,

if she’s the right one. I call to check

on the pots and pans, I wonder if the shadows

are the same on the wall. To think; at one

time, it was a real question once

whether the party went on without me,

or the toys moved when I was somewhere

else wondering about them. It was the same

question with this girl who walks in circles now;

I wondered if her shadows were the same.

I come by this honestly. A man from UPS stands

on my lawn. Quiet as a museum piece moving

over a glass chessboard, moving his arm

in a way I cannot object to or discourage.

There are more than just finite and infinite games,

but a hearse is warm when you’re thinking

of it indoors. I walked. The bookstore was lit

dimly in the back and no one was there.