Desire/Knowledge/Integrity/Humility/Perspective/Truth
Mitchell Nobis
After Kamasi Washington
For a year, I’ve left
the house after dark,
after the boys are
asleep, to walk with
the dog. We go south,
west, east, north. We go
in darkness, with stars and
streetlights. Harmony
of Difference in
my headphones, Kamasi
Washington & his
band wailing love. It’s
not a bad space to
leave your head for a
year. Another person
walks this route at this
time. My new friend wears
a red blinking light,
both beacon & shield—
we’ve never said hi. I
swing out to the roadside,
walk a parabola
around her, nod hello
in the hidden dark.
Mitchell Nobis is a writer and teacher in Metro Detroit where he lives with his wife and children. His poetry has appeared in Exposition Review, Roanoke Review, Hobart, and others. His manuscript was a finalist for the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize. @MitchNobis