here, I am uneasy

this place is strange, this space

empty. This incubator, sterile compound.

your unit. Myself glimpsed

in glass (in fragments), a full-length window pane

Ghost image on a TV screen

you disturb me

the air –

so sharp it hurts, this high

vertigo –

you make my eyes smart

Far removed, a burglar siren jams

(you alarm me)

the heavy breathing of cars, below

you oppress

like a radio not quite tuned to the stations

a shadow pall –

a phone left off the hook