They touch you
Innocuous things
Miles and miles of jungle air
Hours on the mp3 player
Biting cold of starlit nights
Gay abandon of grazing deers
Endless humidity of the coast
Adivasi girl’s shy smile
And you promise yourself
That you will write about them
Never about other things like
Staring at a mosquito for hours
Uncut nails and unshaved beard
Dirty clothes and runny nose
They say they are jealous of you
So you keep up the appearance
And you romanticize and smile
And pretend you don’t feel
The fear that fever is worsening
The shiver you aren’t eating well
And you push the thought away
That the stories mightn’t be worth shit
That nobody might ever read
The words you labor away at;
That all the lies told to family
Will only be for a fool’s errand
Some mornings you just want to hide
In the overnight warm blanket
Not face a new city ,
a new story
Some nights on the side of the bed
You sit in the smoke, numb and tired
Counting down to your next trip home
And then they are just that
Innocuous things
