unmistaken identity

it’s like having neighbours without curtains
making love with the light on
across the narrow strip of back yard
outside the kitchen window
washing late night dishes

except it’s twentyfour seven
and loveless
a hole in the wall of the world
showing you almost everything
and once in a while

between press releases and sporting adventures
celebrity poses and lifestyle changes
current events and ongoing dramas
some stranger’s mortality
spat in your face
like a passerby’s curse

it’s a streetcorner of some distant suburb
whose name you didn’t quite catch
nowhere you’ve ever been
a stumble in the dance of traffic
a knot of broken metal and a death
no one you ever met

the news reader informs us the police
have not released the dead rider’s name
but somebody knows that bike


Span (South Australia)