WITH BOTH FISTS
Consider the wife in Oliver Sacks
who saw life in snapshots, with gaps
in between. Who always felt giddy
when Harry came home. Like a
cinema housewife, she'd say to herself,
seeing him first at the foot of the walk,
then in a close up, murmuring, Alice,
before he flicked by to flop
on the couch and click
through the channels.
This,
she reported, was something she lived with.
But then there were times the snaps
were quite different: she'd see Harry first
at the foot of the walk, then in a close up,
murmuring Alice, then in the next shot,
back on the walk, still rushing towards her,
lips pursed to kiss her as though he had not.