Fame

There are some people
who can barely be tolerated
in person but are beloved
as fictional characters.
One reads about them
in a book or watches them
on a screen, and one feels special
because one recognizes their beauty.
But when one meets them
in person, one dismisses them,
unless they are already famous.

—John Tottenham

In Our Shadow

Innocent as infants,
we curl up in our beliefs.

We dream that our milk watches us
from the sofa in the dark.

Under the sofa rests a ball
we thought would never stop rolling.

Here are my fingers, dusty
with what covered that ball.

Then a swarm of bees grows
close and loud behind us.

The river is many miles from here.
We’ll reach it by dawn if we leave right now.

—James Cushing