THIEF OF MOMENTS

Poetry Potluck

One Shot Wednesday

June 7, 2011

Beware the Thief Of Moments

for although I am near you

in a casual way

you will not suspect

that I have come to rob you

of your secrets

just to hold a piece of your essence

next to my heart

Shagging what you toss to the wind

as you stroll through the park with your lover

the random bits of conversation

you feed each other

like morsels from a picnic lunch

become my sustenance

tormented by this inexplicable need

I must devour your words

so that I may live

Did you ever hear about

the ice cream wars in Montana?

The guys who ride around in trucks

peddling frozen delights

while the music blares from their speakers

the competition is so fierce

they try to horn in on each other's territory

sometimes one chases the other down the street

trying to shoot his tires out

while the children watch

and the music plays merrily on

I lifted that from a couple guys

at the gas pumps

they were filling their tanks

and unwittingly

filling mine as well

A young blonde

no more than seventeen

beautiful

with that girl-next-door look

sitting with her friends at the mall

I walk by and hear her say

I know it was a hazing

but bamboo shoots up my bum?

That was a tiny lunch

but strangely satisfying

In a department store

a woman clings to her shopping cart

for support

something is wrong with her foot

I can't walk on it honey

she says to her husband

I can't walk on it

There is a silence

Then STAND on it

comes his icy reply

This leaves a bitter taste in my mouth

but it is sustenance just the same

I am the Thief Of Moments

and I must devour your words

so that I may live

A moment

once shared

becomes a conspiracy

the accomplices like revolutionaries

plotting in the torch light

of underground chambers

I am the spy in your midst

You will never know of my betrayal

until it appears in a poem somewhere

A moment is such a long time

when it lives forever