RAMEN SHOP (CLOSING TIME) Two pairs of chopsticks, slightly different angles: admit nothing, suggest everything. The jacket half off the chair: a parenthesis the sentence hasn't closed yet. The bowl holds the whole remaining heat of the day like someone made a fist of light and let it go slowly. Around the sun: the ghost of a small solar system. Around the ghost: the dark pressing in, violet, not threatening — more like the night leaning in to see what you managed. The condensation ring where a glass sat is the truest record of the meal: something was here, was raised, was drunk down, was taken away before the painting noticed.