Big Check

A big check weighs us down –

till deposited. Then it disappears

into the realm of business

the business we did before

that big check weighed on us.

But from the bank’s parking lot

through the door, through that

line, lined up to the teller, it still

was part of our mystery of money

heavy in our pocket. We try to look

causal about it all, want the teller

to think that we are used to big checks

earning, carrying, and depositing them.

She takes it, looks it over, checking things

we can only guess at. She never looks our

way. She clicks away, and our big check

even as heavy as we thought it was, disappears.

                     Photo

It saves that moment, one of the many

we pass through every day, every hour,

but this one is caught, frozen and will

never change. The photo captures

a street scene, one we all live through

holds it. The couple at the curb, about

to cross will never cross. They have gone

this far and no farther. We don’t know if

they are happy or sad. They are just this

couple in this moment. What are they

thinking? What did they just say to each

other? Will this action, this about to go

across this street, make a difference in

their lives? Will they look back and say

that this made all the difference? We don’t

know, will never know, but that moment

for them has become part of us, part of

us if we hold this picture and watch it go

through the things the photographer was

trying to convey to us about time and its

mystery, the way we are in the midst of it

and never know what is next for us and for

the people around us – or even that couple

who he or she stopped in the midpoint of

their day out together and made it stay fixed

one foot off the curb, the other about to

follow.

                      Side-Effects

Of course, they warn us about side-effects.

the unintended consequences of taking

whatever it is we’re taking or are thinking

about taking. They’re the stuff of small print.

You could end up with “swelling of ankles or

feet.” How about “confusion, difficulty breathing”

Along with such things as “dizziness, faintness

or lightheadedness.” The things we take come

with their own litany of possible side effects.

Imagine “black, tarry stools” or “bleeding gums”

as you take a daily dose of what they’re selling.

Even TV ads touting the latest meds for public

consumption are weighed down with side-effects

both mentioned by the voice-over and in print

at the bottom of the screen. They give us a group

dancing and singing followed by their warnings.

It’s as if the cure or whatever we’re taking to try

To cure or at least curtail one thing brings on an

Assortment of other candidates for our undoing.