errantry

(upon recognizing there’s never a cab around when you need one in a rom com.)

every cab in this city

is somewhere else tonight

ferrying some guy in a peacoat

to the airport.

again.

She got on the wrong flight

or perhaps the right one

depending on who is telling the story.

I’ve been standing in this same spot

since the part of this movie

where nothing happens–

the middle forty or so minutes–

the part where you go get a refill

or go use the restroom

or go outside and smoke…

the part where the protagonist

is eating cereal over the sink

and doesn’t yet know

he

should be

running…

A cab passed by at 9:47

occupied of course

someone’s meet-cute already in progress

his hand probably finding hers

over the gear shift

of a plot device that doesn’t include me.

I’m just standing here,

waiting for the narrative to notice me,

and I’ve been standing here

with my hand up

in the universal gesture

of a man who needs to get somewhere

quickly

but as far as anyone can tell

isn’t the point.

It’s raining now

which means someone

is about to say something profound,

“truer words have never been spoken”

on a stoop two blocks from here.

I lower my arm.

I walk.