The Astonished Heart
Narrated by Bill Wolak
New Jersey
The Astonished Heart
She of the shining eyes
in the next booth
Ramada Inn Lawrence Kansas
Beautiful teeth and long hair
talking to a smiler in sharkskin
She is twenty and aglow
saying something important
about their life together
It must be serious
the way she looks at him
with her far-eyed look
half-smiling
or maybe it is just about the tragedy
of some movie she’s just been to
I can’t hear the words
Just the voice lisping a little
flat almost
except for the eyes
He smiles into them
They are both smiling
into each other
Maybe it is just a little joke
between them
not a tragedy at all
There is nothing to do about it
in either case
Just watch it happen
amazed and aghast
at the fantastic craziness of it
and of existence
which just goes on
bowling us over
Set ‘em up in the other alley
Wow watch this one
I got my crystal spectacles on
Soon soon their supper will come
Soon soon they will eat it
or each other
not necessarily a tragedy
Maybe it is all just a goofy movie
about eating
He may be about to eat a fish
whose baked eye glares up at him
Soon soon they will devour each other
Eyes feasting on each other
Each prepares the other’s surrender
Soon she will look away
with her long look
out a window
through the Standard Station’s neons
toward the plains
where somewhere soon
they will lie together hot
under the sun at noon
Soon soon she will finish eating
her appetizer
Soon soon she will look at him again
You can tell she’s still hungry
Woman is a wonderful invention
of man
And man a wonderful invention
of woman
Soon soon they will be born again in the sun
Soon too soon they will be wonderfully done
with each other
She looks away from him now
into the great American night
and seems to see very far
unless it’s just contact lenses
making her eyes
so shiny
There is a great crowded bluff
in Lawrence Kansas
that looks a long way
into the astonished heart
of America