For Elaine Sutton and Lee Driver
The colors of my world seem to be fading
Deaths of people I hardly knew seen from the corner of my eye for
Decades
Yes, I barely spoke with them
I never stopped and said words –meaningful words
Just waves and hellos
I saw them from the corner of my eye
We intersected in bars, grocery stores and crowded gatherings in the park
I could not call them friends
Yet, yes, why certainly yes their otherness was important
I cannot really say acknowledged
Flecks of gold/silver /purple/ orange in the clumsy fabric of
My small life in a small town
I was content with their distance…. faint spice
Aloof… I could be certain that they were alive,
Were they happy or sad?
Celebrating birthdays and other occasions I never celebrated with them
Unknowing to me
They sicken and worsen and died
I never really touched
Still I counted on them
To overlap/transect
And to be seen from the corner of my eye.