PAD Challenge 12

Toward the End


And then there’s a moment of realization
where he knows he’s made a mistake.
Maybe it happens as he takes a drag
from the day’s first cigarette,
or while he gulps the mid-day coffee—
new habits to shed an old life.
You want to tell him you know
he knows, but don’t. Instead,
you stand there in the astonishing quiet,
in the wake of stale smoke
watching him throw away
a large Styrofoam cup full of butts.

Comments

Jessie Carty said…
love the phrase "astonishing quiet"
Anonymous said…
the energy in this is amazing (which is interesting b/c in it, the narrator is a bit passive; she is watching; she is not saying it). what's left undone/unsaid is very powerful!

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