"You speak German?" She asks while biting her lower lip in faux perplexity while staring at the well-worn splayed cover of Traktat uber kritische Vernunft, by Hans Albert. He quickly gathers the volume up and inserts an old St. Louis MetroBus transfer stub to hold his place. She giggles a bit as he deftly unhooks her vintage charcoal pencil skirt, releasing her from her afternoon appointment, while steering her hips to the nearby rolled-arm silk-upholstery white settee ...

penthouse view
sound of seagulls
everywhere

Published originally in Modern Haibun, Thursday, December 4, 2008