Closed (poem)

Closed

On remembered walks, sun sapping the will

to squint at the curb where a car might jump

Not be blinded into casualty by fair weather

Become a digit in a death toll, rushed to hospital

“…died of injuries sustained”

Sustained, as gaveled into allowability

By whom

It just seems, the walker thinks, this happens more, you read it more

Guns at hand kill more suicides

Hands on wheels drag, and fenders

blunder into personal rebukes

Bicyclist half in lane, dog on leash half out

curbscape of parading, hardhats taping off, of hammering, phoning

devouring, browsing, idling, posing

vlogging, jamming, jockeying, photoing

hailing, tapping, tussling, pounding

Running ragged like a ripped-off edge of cloth

And if the driver hadn’t thought, thought of personal

Thought of in my way

Thought of doing it on purpose

Thought of making those people pay

By voices, behind closed doors, he will be taught

Behind her door, who loves him not

Behind all doors and every invitation

Shut

Against a screen, a moth

Closed

Repousée (Three Actors)

(2024, Stephanie Foster)