Sleepy sleepy eyes creaking
Open barely a caper
Creeping a long coat,
Hat pulled over eyes before the sun.
Barely four hours sleep tucked
Into my breast pocket
Another hour borrowed time.
A pre-dawn rainy-day
Middle-of-the-bridge
Hostage swap that didn’t come off.
A cell phone in one pocket, a
Cup and a packet of graham crackers
In the other.

I can’t read the stylized writing at all.
The scrawl on the bridge that says, I was here
A shout to the universe: I exist.

A note delivered early the previous day:
IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE YOUR CELL ALIVE AGAIN
BRING MILK TO THE SOQUEL BRIDGE AT 6AM
NO FUNNY BUSINESS OR THE CELL GETS IT!
DON’T CALL THE COPS!
COME ALONE!

My adversary is not there doesn’t come stands me up
Or didn’t receive the note in time.


No matter and no excuses.
No milk and cookies this AM.
I’d rather do this than be safe in my bed
Asleep for the rest of my life.

Plish.

The quiet sound of a phone finding its place
at the bottom of the San Lorenzo River.