WINDOW-WASHER

by Kenneth Frost

 

 

Lowering

the lifeboat of

our platform from

the roof each day,

I sort of know

what escapees

of shipwrecks feel

looking in

at the portholes

like peeping toms.

On the top floor

I concentrate

on soaping up

and shining glass

so the roulette

wheel of sunlight

won’t skid my head

around its track.

As I move down,

sideways and down,

I read my life

in the headlines

my printing press

is slapping out:

“They didn’t know

that he was there

till he was not.”