OUT OF FOCUS

"It's like looking through wax paper"
he said
"...the world out there gets more
out of focus
through this grease"
she said,
"the lines of buildings become indistinct and
only
approximate their
shape
with color"
and she said
" Yes, I know, you are
absolutely right, the whole
landscape through this
muddy milieu
with all the hard edges softened,
a pastel stroke smeared with a big thumb
smashed with
a
hammer"

"That's why I come here"
he said, tapping a knuckle on the front window their booth
was in front of, he said," the food's for shit,
the coffee tastes like
old ink
and the service is a slow boat , but I like the intersection this
window faces
and the fact that this glass is always filthy, covered in dirt, hair products,
fried guts of
cattle, this pane allows us the blurred vista of an
impressionist
painter"

"Really it does" she piped in,
"but not quite abstract, you know, things are out there, real objects,
they're out there, still solid in their density"

"A little like taking your glasses off in
a public place"
he said,
"only
without
the eye strain"