Written while watching a short about the making of the Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World.

I was never there myself
but I was in the city
at the time it was being filmed

My mind invents a scene
in which I walk by
while the actors are performing their roles

In some versions
my girlfriend and I are still together
so we witness it as a couple

The colours are never as deep
as they appear on the screen
and there’s no music to be heard
but for the open doors
of an electronics shop a few blocks away
where someone is listening
to an unrecognizable tune

The first war was over by then

My own misadventures had settled
into predictable routine
counting slowly down
to my own departure
from the city that stays lit
long after everyone has gone to bed

In keeping with the pattern
in which the present
never makes an appearance
I dream about it sometimes

(23 October 2021)

Wishes sometimes have consequences is available to order from your favorite local bookstore.

IndieBound search: https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=wishes+sometimes+have+consequences

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