How to Get to Know a Man or Asking for Directions

If you want to know a man,

you must get cozy with uncomfortable

silences, appreciate the awkward moments,

take joy in the slow, painstaking shedding

of his attachment to everything being fine.

Delight in the moments when he realizes

he doesn't know what to do,

doesn't have an answer,

just

doesn't

know.

If you're patient,

it will happen the way leaves turn colors and

fall to the ground one at a time,

ten thousand times,

until the tree like the man stands bare.

© 2006 by Nate Arthur
All Rights Reserved