Slippage

 Have you ever, on the train, as it starts to roll,

slowly drawn one hand horizontally across

your head? 

Does this sound like anything?

Have you ever, looking out through just one window, as you please

felt the wideness of your forehead and the speed of your hand

so different from the flash of ads along the way? 

What am I getting at, here

Have you ever, just, felt, your own head, your own skin

where it's stretched against the bone like

badly measured wrapping paper on the final side of the gift?

I feel like I'm going to scream

Can anyone hear what I'm asking, here? I had an experience

that had nothing to do with any part of what was actually

being seen or felt by me, or anyone in the vicinity

I don't currently have access to the language I need

My face is a mask puppeteered by my ears,

a hand should never touch a mask, never touch the puppet,

not like this, it shatters the illusion