intelude: gloaming

i almost lost today
lost it to the horizontal
to the mindlessness of small screen medium screen big screen
staring out the window at clear skies
i’m inside.

zoom box me ogling myself
don’t tell me you aren’t staring at yourself,
too.
vanity steals my seconds
trying to make eye contact with my zoom interviewers,
i.e. trying to focus on the small little circle at the top of my computer screen
above myself
above the person i try to impress
she stares back.

i did lose today, a little

but i found it when i bundled up in a warm coat and skipped down the steps into riverside park
where i saw a raccoon mama
a ship whose apricot beams rippled over the river

where i stared out at the gloaming
the after sunset
star sighing into deep dark black.

i gaze at the unpricked skies and i wonder
i wait
when will the aliens find us.