dust covered layer

blinds the face of a transparent backpack
a nosy (nebby) officer
gives it the once over
there’s nothing for you here
don’t wipe it clean
just some personal stuff
best kept hidden
stowed but not forgotten
beneath desolation angels
a place on earth
who would of ever thought
anything close to exposure
would come
years after
the dust settled

--- e b bortz

sometimes silence can be the best poetry

like the space between the stanza
don't bite your fingernails
let the words grow under them
first
speak everything into an inner ear
floppy tongues can make
dull bedfellows

--- e b bortz

(published in The City Poetry, issue 20, Sept 2007)