Lost
By Rachael Helsel
Bore, n.:
A person who talks when you wish him to listen.
- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
Avoiding
eye contact, I charted my path to the door
but the
waves always part for him and he glided easily
through
the crowd to my side, a contented sigh falling
from his
mouth to the floor like a ship dropping anchor.
Mundane
comments swelled monotonous stories,
and as my
feet foundered on a rolling deck of
disorienting drivel, the bile began rising in the back of my
throat.
Carefully aimed distress flares fell sputtering, unnoticed.
He
permits a pause to try the champagne, but I was already lost in the fog
of his
fulminations, helpless spectator as the evening
ran
aground on rocks of ridiculous rhetoric.
Politely
excusing myself, I lowered a lifeboat into
roiling
waters
and rowed
awkwardly
toward
the
party… |
