Looking Away

Fraser Sutherland
From:   Matuschka Case: Selected Poems 1970-2005. Toronto: TSAR, 2006.

When we talk you�ll notice
I do not look directly
at you but downward or ahead, my good ear
inclined toward your words, now
and then glancing briefly at you to affirm
I am still listening, still there.
If I should look into your eyes
the chances are I am bored or indifferent,
my face a mask and not an ear,
but looking away I am looking into
what you will say next.
At this moment you may be sure
I am with you and that I find
the truth a foot in front of me,
two feet from you.

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Fraser Sutherland's works copyright © to the author.