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Wrong Side of the River
Stanley Plumly
I watched you on the wrong side
of the river, waving. You were trying
to tell me something. You used both hands
and sort of ran back and forth.
as if to say
look behind you, look out
behind you
. I wanted to wave back.
But you began shouting and I didn't
want you to think I understood.
So I did nothing but stand still,
thinking that's what to do on the wrong side
of the river. After a while you did too.
We stood like that for a long time. Then
I raised a hand, as if to be called on,
and you raised a hand, as if to the same question.
* * *
"Wrong Side of the River" from
Out-of-the-Body Travel
.
Copyright © 1974 by Stanley Plumly.
Reprinted by permission of the author.
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