Talking to Strangers
by Rufus Collinson
The ancient, unshaven man at Dunkin’ Donuts
speaks to me.
‘You see the sky this mornin’?’
I had seen the radiant blooming rose
rising from the harbor.
I nodded,
‘Yes, I did.’
He smiled and continued,
elbowing and bending
in a jig of recognition,
‘And how ‘bout that crescent moon?’
I remembered with him
the distant brilliant curve
and the deep cerulean night.
‘One time,’
he was effusing now
so soon
into our relationship,
‘a guy I knew
invited me to go up in the Goodyear Blimp.’
‘What was that like?’
‘Why it was like climbing
into that van out there
and driving it up
into the sky.’
And so, there I was
with him
in a moment that hangs still
above all time.
Always talk to strangers.
They are waiting to tell you their best stories.
