overheard at the empty chair, 3 o'clock position
"—and she said the future belongs to those who
hear it coming but I swear all I heard was
the wine glass touching the table and someone
saying capitalism like it was the name of
a town they'd driven through once without stopping—"
"—four hundred and eleven steps, I counted,
from the circle to the car park, which is
exactly the distance between a question
you ask in a room full of people
and the answer you give yourself alone
in the fog with your headlights on—"
"—nine of us and one empty chair and
nobody sat in it but everyone
kept glancing at it like a tooth
that's missing, you keep tonguing
the gap, you can't help it—"