Ken Smith (1938 - 2003)

one thing then another

one story then another conversation
always interrupted by another conversation

I want the words to barely glaze the page
gone the moment of their utterance

as we are

I want

in back of this a story a man with his face with his name
exile emigrant refugee displaced person outsider offcomerdon stranger suspect
the terms interchangeable politically undesireable
a story of a man who leaves his country

and the woman he loves

and the story of why

and her story

they never meet again
that’s it that’s all of it

far away she hears in the night street
footsteps footsteps stop
when she stops go on when she goes on
from the dark in back of her she hears

I can see you I can see you
Sammy Sammy Sammy Sammy I can see you
far away she must go on
far away he must go on