I go out alone

a way a ways away

paying in distance for anonymity

avoiding familiar haunts

so as not to encounter ghosts

a song plays —unstoppingly—

if a girl falls into the woods,
with no one there to hear,
was she ever anywhere else at all,
is she really even here?

I dance this beat with tone-deaf strangers

they wonder

attractive women who sicken me

they crave

indistinguishably kind and dangerous

they expect

I unravel myself gracefully

drunk from absorbing winter’s chill

elicit her nameless laughter

catch the pleased phrase “like magic”

I don’t believe in it though

I say as much to her bewilderment

then I leave

alone

unobligated

unaffected

and satisfied.