200530 lost comma

lost comma   (for a poet friend)  

(by mumma yaga)

i lost my comma she said

looking up as i entered the cafe

she swept up bagel crumbs into a pile and 

drew a dot and a gentle curve

white in the pale bits

contagious i whispered 

slowed my approach

she sighed and said

i must have left it somewhere

she showed me the 

unpunctuated poem

i pondered the handedness of the remark

she smiled bleakly comma

(just so i remember) 

offered me tea

i sat looking at the normal-looking poem

it might turn up i said

(but i recalled that they don't

they go down   to the left)

it's part of the poet's process

i said to lose meanings

parts of speech

write and right change places

left and left

you just left it out i said

like a bicycle in the rain

i tried to sound casual

but my words fell like stones

i once misplaced my 

upper case letters 

and look what's happened to me