It's Still Life

PA24: A Dialogue Poem

I’d like to pick up a delivery, please.
Order number
(but I can’t recall it so I show her my phone with the SMS)

Name? she asks.
Yes, I say.
(and then correct myself. I must pay closer attention)

Which is difficult because there’s a baby.
Howling. Its face is tomato red.
And the mother pushes the pram
forward.backward.forward.backward.

I smile. The mother smiles back.
It’s a womanly thing. An unspoken
understanding. A sort of empathy,
even though I’ve never had babies.

I can’t find your package, says the clerk.
Are you sure we have it? I nod, show
the SMS again, yes, quite sure, I say.

forward.backward.forward.backward.
I dare not suggest that the child
is suffering motion sickness. Do I?

The clerk returns with my package.
The baby still howls, its face is now
angrier than deep crimson. I nod.
The mother nods. The clerk nods.

A lot of nodding without a word said.
forward.backward.forward.backward.

PA24: A Dialogue Poem ©️ Misky 2019 It’s November Poem a Day month. These are 1st drafts