New-in-town poem
E. Fleischman
Glancing down
steadies the ground;
eyes find littered pavement,
and notice hardwood at parties.
People new here
ask the floor, topography, town
to hold conversation.
They want a firmer feel
of situations.
The eyes blink sideways,
sideways, down;
a stranger who is beautiful,
a stranger who is stone,
might only appear to be alone.
People diffuse into the city.
regaling their lost children
in the spots they find.
The people are almost
always kind.
Eyes come up
into a person’s eyes.
Secrets are no secrets;
dawn’s delight arrives
with and without surprise.
