AFTER

After jacking up
the car
and taking my kayak
out to sea
speaking to a student
about her major
in French literature
especially Balzac
and Baudelaire
while carefully playing
backgammon
on a park bench
when it is nearly dark
and losing to Anna
wishing her
a happy new year
seeing a sign
searching for a missing
Doberman dog an alley,
but do beware!
near a bar
together choosing
to speak to a stranger
by the city church
who is praying
on his knees
to the King of the Jews
inviting him to dinner
saying he is a sinner
in his nearly fainting behavior
crying on a creche
to his Savior Jesus
telling us
of his writing his memoir
and how his thesis
is on Renoir's painting
"The Bathers"
I'm listening
as I use to play
the violin solo
from the opera
of Massenet's "Thais"
by meeting a single person
who tells us in his words
on a playground swing
seriously relaxing,
holding up my jazzy
alto sax
in bars of a riff
near a lost bird's wing
"There is no security
only love we cannot refuse
even as authentically
we must choose the justice
of humanity
we are constantly hearing
about cyber hacking
of reporters on the news."