Inside Perspective

They had the kind of conversational
Friendship reinforced by infrequent stops,
When both were in town, at some coffee shop
Where they analyzed the untraceable

Trajectories of falling pianos
Randomly entering the atmosphere.
They’d catch up on their academic years,
The usual failures, plans, and shadows

Of administration and profession
At downmarket post-secondary schools
Whose lofty slogans had nobody fooled,
Nearly anonymous institutions.

And then they’d consider the big picture
From two brushstrokes daubed on background fixtures.