haibun || Sheila E. Murphy

North of (W)here

Whatever seemed germane was just Germaine in moderate disguise. Trimmed tie-tack and matching tap shoes upon sponge floor. The walkways, punctured with (dis)use, plumped up the altitude. A person known as "mister" chafed the staff. Having afforded a punctilious view of houses, both lordly and common. One walked in or near the commons, in a state of fugue. A balloon text veered toward honoring maternal sway. Brimming with feast was how her clothe-tones were applied. Even mauve exquisitely doubled her repose. A chapter versed amounted to a prototypical protozoan shadow. Chaps meandered by and watched. A sponsor who appeared above reproach reprised a solitude, then acted with restraint. A dormitory full of windows showed specific pets as silky as new frames in tow. Rendered by way of camera jewel. One let it thump against one's chest. As though an investment, to mimic an indefinite majority. The deception had to do with platitudes removed from specificity. For all we knew, the nominative case had been forever hijacked and would leave us to our "him and me," known friends for all eternity.

Pets yapping in the neighborhood, the owner voted "most likely to recede," a photo in the yearbook, facing pies