On my balcony I watched a child
play with an imaginary friend,
and while texting my own friends
I laughed and laughed at him.
Then the kid starting slow dancing
with his little invisible partner,
‘how cute’ I thought to myself
while texting some girl.
The boy then started talking, talking to it
this intangible person of his mind
but I had seen enough
and had all my laughs.
So I stood up
went inside
started my shift
of talking, talking
into a computer screen.
After work
I sat in my car scrolling
scrolling until my phone
grew a face on the back
that scowled and hissed
and laughed at me.
So with tears in my eyes
I threw the phone
in the glove compartment,
then I drew a nicer
friendlier face
on the wind shield,
it was the second realest thing
I’d seen all day –
right behind that boy’s imaginary friend.
Of Poems and Places 