A moment caught in greyscale
You ask her a question
and she turns towards you,
eyes ringed in kohl
smudged by the smoke
hanging in the
low-ceilinged bar
She doesn’t wonder
or question what you want,
her actions on auto-pilot,
numbness an acquired emotion
when life and just existing
require more than she can allow
The man across the table,
he looks at her, but not,
his glance far away
yet centered on her lips,
waiting for a word,
any syllable that would
resemble an interaction
And that old man,
the one buying rounds
for all those lost starts,
he stares right at you,
asking with a grin in his gaze
if you too have any moments
that have wandered off
when apathy ruled your heart
© Charlotte Ozment
Charlotte Ozment’s work has appeared in many unique publications such as Bindweed, Five2One, Full of Crow, Gyroscope Review, Idle Ink, Mad Swirl, Poetry Repairs, Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine, Scarlet Leaf Review, Vox Poetica and Wilderness House Review.
The Loch Raven Review 