Sonnet Overheard at Phone Booth

Sonnet Overheard at Phone Booth

Goodbye, but said without really meaning it. The way
the light touches you like something scared. Or my armful
of sunspots and the milk expiring on the countertop
and many unopened tubes of paint and hair ties
lost to the unmanicured wild. The sheer loneliness
of your body on the cosmic scale. There’s so much
I’m not telling you: orange tickets, limpid rain,
the last train home. The kindness of every shadow, the way
something patient keeps count beneath the rib cage.
Goodbye, meaning, I will see you right after this call.
Meaning, I am leaving a message at the tone and a song
that will loop and a bird or two to peck at all the crumbs
I have left behind. Meaning, I am still here, listening,
waiting for the train to arrive.