Monday, May 04, 2020

  ...Inside Out...

I've seen him before.
Registered him.
Noticed 
his 
presence. 

Has he failed to 
blend in with the masses,
or rather succeeded in 
standing apart?

A white-haired old man 
with gristled beard,
he stands at the curb 
of a cobble-stoned intersection
and there quavers back and forth.

His hesitancy conveys itself
via tiny little swiveling sidesteps.
This way.  No, 
   that way.
Wait… 
let's rethink this.

He has 
a dapper appearance.
A self-groomed man,
he wears a crisp white shirt
which he's buttoned to the collar,
this and a pair of 
patent leather loafers
on bare sock-less feet.

His only fashion faux pas
is the fact that 
he's wearing his jeans
   inside out.
The cuffs of his jeans 
have been turned up,
exposing the darker 
blue of the denim
against the light tone 
of the cloth's inner surface.
He made a 
conscious effort 
to do this.

About his hips 
it becomes apparent
that all his pocket openings 
   are turned in.
Indeed, all of his possessions 
   are inaccessible.
But then again, perhaps 
this 
is the point.

Perhaps it's not so much
that his possessions be 
inaccessible to him,
but that they be 
inaccessible to us.

He is not 
an inside-out man.
No. 

       No. 

He is forever 
outside in.

Ó98 Jack David Hubbell

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