CALL ME BELOVED

my brother taught me about cargo claims.
I learned how crab meat spoiled on container ships
is salvaged for soup-grade crab meat – I learned
how to mitigate your losses.

it was in this way with my dress shoes clacking
down the subway steps that I learned to minimize
my own losses, to take the sour ache of disappointment
and cherish it. it belongs to you and this is significant.

the fire escape outside my window casts shadows
while headlights on 23rd avenue slide back and forth,
prison-bar silhouettes framing a cat form, a strange play
that I watch unfold on the ceiling. it’s late and it’s begun to rain.