OH NOTHING!

I said, “Oh nothing!”

We both knew nothing
is always something.

“Nothing” sometimes
wears barbed wire.

The “Nothing” answer
can have that guttural sounding
echo, the “uuuuum”.

This “Nothing!”
comes after a lot of
talking to myself inside my night.

This “Nothing”
comes after some twisting
and turning my head and neck
to ease the tension that is
sitting on my shoulders.

This “Nothing”
contains a lie in my smile
as I avoid your eyes.

So that’s why I said,
“Oh, it’s nothing!”
as we’re still stuck in traffic.
A bridge is out.
We have to detour
around each other
in order to avoid this nothing.

“So what are you thinking?”

“Oh nothing.”

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2009