“There isn’t a word for walking out of the grocery store
With a gallon jug of milk in a plastic sack
That should have been bagged in double layers
—so that before you are even out the door
You feel the weight of the jug dragging
The bag down, stretching the thin
Plastic handles longer and longer
And you know it’s only a matter of time until
Bottom suddenly splits.
There is no single, unimpeachable word
For that vague sensation of something
Moving away from you
As it exceeds its elastic capacity
—which is too bad, because that is the word
I would like to use to describe standing on the street
Chatting with an old friend
As the awareness grows in me that he is
No longer a friend, but only an acquaintance.”
— Tony Hoagland, “There Is No Word” (via michellelynking)
(via regpiereg)
12:08 pm • 16 July 2012 • 70 notes