Giving Up Reason

--Pam Rehm

It happens like this:

Majestically,

the pigeons spill down

a few steps away

on a hot summer’s day

on Broadway

jostling one another

All the dust and the mess

I’ve become

overtaken

by unevenness

Within the days

Between the hours

I’m bewildered by

all the dollars I’ve spent

on a life out of balance

when there’s all this

cosmic consciousness

within a kiss

and the 1 AM

that haunts the hand

in my pocket

searching for the key

hole

All those mistakes ago

Like everyone else,

I feed them

A few cents of bread

But it’s the thirst

no one thinks about

When I look out

YOU are

always

The landscape within