Night Walks

Sometimes I’ll go for long walks at night

skip the sidewalk and just walk on the street

always on the left side though

so the cars can’t sneak up on me

I’ll catch these glimpses of lives

a window with a TV on inside

or echoes of conversations from a backyard

like a bus driver overhearing their passengers

you’ll only get a piece of it

and your brain starts writing the rest

I become a TV writer

hired after the pilot got picked up

the characters and places were here before me

but I get to imagine where they’ll go next

like when a car passes with two people in it

are they together? are they in love?

did they used to be?

are they hoping each other feels the same about them as they do for the other?

or maybe they’re just siblings going to visit their mother

I see houses that need fixing and wonder what else might be broken inside

and I see houses that are perfect

right down to every blade of grass on their front lawn

and I think about how proud the owner must be

and what about them might be broken inside

I think about the folks who plant gardens

and the folks who paved for more car spaces

I pass parks and wonder about all the different histories and young faces

the fistfights and foot races

scraped knees and first kisses

games of fetch and the swing-and-a-miss-es

and sometimes I’ll pass an old house

that’s filled with stories I already know

but they never look the way you remember them to

they never feel the way they’ve always felt to you

all these homes, and trees and parks

and the streetlights that turn on after dark

every fence I hopped over

and every backyard pool I thought I’d drown in

all the windows to bedrooms that my friends used to sleep in

And all the parking lots we’d drive to just to talk and kiss in

I’ll think about new stories and new lives

and the other kids from grade school who turned into wives

sometimes I’ll go for long walks at night

skip the sidewalks and pass under the street lights

always on the left side though

so the cars can’t sneak up on me

I’m hoping to be as visible as possible

like these memories always seem to be