"The Interval"

In-ter-val (noun) 1. a distance 2. a unit of time 3. a musical relationship                                                           4. The Interval (pl.) a trendy juice bar in Fort Mason, SF.

We sat near the bar,
   gazing at a huge wall of modern antiquity,
   with paintings that caused my imagination
   to fill in spatial anchors and historical conjectures,
At a huge wood table that cannot remember its origin,
   yet knows exactly how time feels.

My body,
   her teenage rebelliousness
   trapped in a cooly professional body of maturity,
   too close for a first date.

Her mind,
   having already measured the triangulation
   of her self,
   the wall, and my self,
   is slyly smiling.

We adjourn to walk to the end of the pier,
   the fog deceivingly placid,
   as if a person at a pipe organ fell asleep,
   their arms resting on the lower half of the keyboard,
   their snoring gently harmonizing with a pantonal chord.

Yet, my sense of time quickens,
   my legs eager for a sense of movement and motion.
The improvised humor I suggested is gleefully bouncing
   between her,
   and I,
   and the World War II buildings
   that anchor this pier
with dull resolve and respect for space.

And as we approach the guardrail,
   we are undeterred by the ever-yawning
   now crying, fog
   made more comic by a newlywed couple
   posing for photos,
   as if the church organist
   suddenly awakened
   to play Mendelssohn’s Wedding March.

The absurdity of our jointly created story
   about a dog and cat concocting vegan pet food,
   draws us nearer.
And as we inch closer together,
   I recall her saying,
   “I love your . . . “ after which
   all sense of sound simply leaves me . . .

No longer able to discern
   vowels, consonants, or pitch,
   my sense of immediacy blooming,
   as is the sense of warm air coming from
   her lips.

Time is suspended in frozen wonder,
   like bored surfers waiting for a wave to ride.
With distance and sound hijacked,
   I prepare for the inevitable —
   our first kiss.               

 

May 2022

back

©2022, Michael Smolens