The Wait

This poem is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the bar in Thousand Oaks, CA.

                                                    The Wait
 
It doesn’t take a sociopath                                 You can wait until it comes
to think like a sociopath. All                              your way -- at the local
it takes is imagination: the                                 synagogue, the corner Kroger,
second floor outdoor balcony                            the campus bar mid-semester,
of the college’s Business                                     your child’s school, your neighborhood 
Building, the northwest                                      church, while you sit in the pew, facing
corner -- aiming toward the center                     the altar, the preacher, the pulpit,
of campus, the students beneath                         the large, looming cross, with your
walking to the Union to grab a bite or                back to the door, sitting with your
meet a friend between classes--                         head exposed like a melon 
They don’t think, but, bone deep, they know      on the vine. And you know
                                                                     it’s coming.
 
© Kimberly Williams