Deception: A Party

The birthday girl danced;
Scattered, stoic, disaffected.
Her party, her world, her deep drink
In her hand,
Pretension tending to guests.
I smiled in the back
And just thought of
Plane rides.

He’s passing in and out,
Laying on the couch.
Suddenly aware
Of the girl’s stare.
Look at me, momentary friend:
“Choose a different route”

Catching a glimpse,
A hole in my radar,
A girl I’ve never seen
Talks
Speaks
To me
In broken Spanish, slurred
“Solo hay cambios. una cosa cambia a ser una otra.
Todas las personas aquí también
¡Basta!
(and she fights back Sierra Madre tears)
¿Tu? No estas si mismo.”
I understood. But then, I wonder how
She knew me
So well.

Hustled.
I’m out the door.
Amicable, but cautious.
Friendly, but sober.
Unaffected, not Dis.
There’s a man hiding himself in the shadows
When the car turns the corner;
The mental state’s flowing from open wounds.
That one’s not me.

Not tonight.

She was confused.
It wasn’t us, but an
Unarrived stranger.
Now back away.

Slowly.