Public Republic

Theo Edmonds

Photo: TellmeBoo!

You know where life is taking you.
You think you know.
You want to know.
You try to know.
You never actually know –
You see someone on the subway.
You meet eye to eye.
You laugh about something funny…
       (like how the rats running across the subway tracks actually look cute sometimes.)
You decide to grab a coffee together.
You walk.
You hear vintage Bob Dylan playing in a little Brooklyn diner.
You enter.
You smell the bacon.
You think – mmmm!
You eat together.
You reach for the sugar at the same time.
You touch hands.
You blush.
You fight over the check.
You lose.
You walk out the door.
You smile down the street.
You hug on the cold, sunny, Sunday afternoon.
You exchange numbers by entering them into your i-phone.
You hug again.
You part.
You go down under.
You rattle in a subway car back to Harlem.
You come up above.
You text message the new number when reception comes again.
You walk up 145th Street typing into your i-phone.
You write that you are “glad 2 have met u”.
You get a text message back that says “me 2”.
You arrive back at your studio.
You take off your clothes.
You get out your paint brushes.
You caress a new canvas.
You begin to paint.
You know where life is taking you.
You think you know.
You want to know.
You try to know.
You never actually know –
You see a wet, new canvas on the wall.
You meet eye to eye.
You laugh about something funny…
       (like how the rats running across the subway tracks actually look cute sometimes.)