10 December 2023
vision
in my peripheral
a small car has slid
into the next parking spot
on my right, vaguely
a young female driver
I’ve finished with the
parking app and
before pulling out
I glance to
check my right
the girl has gone
but the driver’s door is open
and on the seat is
a horizontal, naked
human back
at right angles to
the seat
the spine being aligned
perpendicularly
from where the door
would be if it were shut…
gently curved, the spine’s
a bare cordillera
as seen from space
and there is no
head visible, nor
clothing, only flesh
unblemished
animal, shockingly
solid, real and fair
and no doubt alive, this
wholly mystical
chunk of
human who is
about to run
and has bent forward
with her feet on the
roadway to tighten
her sneakers’ laces
I compute
it’s just a freak
circumstance
that in this moment
only her skin is
visible, in
just this private
holy moment
existence roars to life
and I pull out
and drive away