1.
A Tarot reader
off Harvard Square
startled me
when she said she saw
Native spirits behind me
and then asked if
I had any Native blood
I did not speak but Nodded that
indeed I did
and she nodded back
and said,
“Wolf Clan?”
I nodded inside
but not to that
2.
Leaving the parlor
I stopped at a 7-11
to buy cigarettes
a yellow pack
of American Spirits
which burn slower and longer
I liked the taste
not the package
3.
I smoked my way over
to Au Bon Pain and sat outside
with a coffee black
staring at a street performer
a living statue
a Bride
who’d be famous one day
but was not just yet
4.
Class was starting soon
so I got up
and crossed Mass Ave
walked to the gates
went in and learned
something
I’ve since forgotten
but I think the class
was on either
the psychology of religion
or the madness of crowds
but I could be wrong
5.
I quit smoking years ago
Got tired of looking at the packages
and sucking that death
I quit going to Harvard Square
after seeing the Tarot reader
had been promoted from
occult appropriator
to manager
of Urban Outfitters
Au Bon Pain
closed sometime after
The Bride
quit all that standing around
got moving and
got a little famous
6.
There are still crowds rushing
all around the Square
The gates are still there
along with keepers
who don’t bother with masks
any longer
7.
A different card reader
told me the other day
she couldn’t read a thing
in me
and I nodded inside
but not at that
If I learned anything at Harvard
it was how to hold myself tight
against the madness of
the marketplace
no matter how cleverly
it disguises itself
as wisdom
