inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper
 
Well-lit rooms observed from darkness,
seen from outside. Like a stage.
Mute clarity of surreptitious snapshots.
Theater hallway insulated red
 
frames a woman with her thoughts
that no one asks to share. Another woman
on a bed next to a man who looks
away. Eyes open, mouths closed.
 
Cigarettes and coffee cups and exits.
Windows over water, sails stretched over blue,
unconcerned with time or inattention.
Silence slanting over Sunday morning.
 
Minutes move as angled light, flat and
sharply shadowed. Time is not sadistic,
only real. Our eyes own this, the light
and the shadows and silence, all
 
the words we don’t speak in a room
or a hallway, isolated here and
there, seen through glass from outside,
heard by no one.