But when the guy dropped to the floor, writhing like a cut worm
Reduced to a curled-up oozing mess in a uniform
Designed to inspire confidence in Pages’ expertise
And in its wearer’s self-control, the lady felt her knees
Jerk forward as if they had a mind of their own that would
Bend to help her help up the helpless man.
~
But no such good
Came of their impulse, for it was staggered by Common Sense
That whispered a medley of Run! and Satan, get thee hence!
And Quick! Report his strange behaviour to his bosses and
Damn, now I’ll be late for dinner, hope Ben will understand.
*
Ambulance and first-aid kit and even mouth-to-mouth were
More what-to-do tags that bobbed up to the surface of her
Mind but were drowned again under the more important need
She felt to prove what a great thing her cellphone was indeed,
How magically necessary its modernity,
How progressive and useful in an emergency.
~
But, though the thing often proved a complicated nuisance,
Like a servant whom she had to end up herself serving,
It was a godsend, she would swear, with a faith unswerving.
(She thought she knew how to think and question things, but in this
Case, she’d paid for the right to blow thinking a goodbye-kiss.)
Her name was Radica Astronomo-Kanamono
- Just ‘Mona’ to her friends who couldn’t be bothered to show
Any respect for her klutzy surname: why, just to try
To pronounce the damned thing made them turn their eyes to the sky
As though to beg God for deliverance from foreigners.
(*fatima solagua arterra’s nudes* by Brian Chan, 2015)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 