Fred Aiken Writing

I spotted you somewhere else

far off in the future when you were a lot better person

and blindly we lead each other with one foot

in front of the other

making each other nervous laugh

because I don’t know where you’re going

you don’t know where I’ve been

except for the mimicry we practice

while playing roles behind locked doors

in dimmed lights

foolish music playing on vinyl

as we picture what it might mean to have a child

practicing for a game that has no rules or roles

but it makes sense so long as we don’t move