Stranger, I am sorry for making eye contact with you.
In my defense, I was alone and a stranger passed before
me without irises, stranger, this is serious, we are no
longer the same. While it began about you, stranger,
entirely about you, You saw me too and I was this
dreadful war someone had covered in winter wool.
Stranger, I am a coat! Imagine this day inverted you
into the womb. Imagine emerging from a new mother
or a brick building upon the sidewalk. You can’t fool
me, stranger, my eyes are the planets within where you
rotate.
Nicholas Destino is nearing the end of the MFA program for poetry at Goddard College. Past publications include one book of poetry, Of Kingdoms & Kangaroo, First Intensity, 2008, and individual poems appearing in The American Poetry Journal, The Pitkin Review, and Trident.
Homeless