I OFTEN TRIP

over strangers’ conversations,
people in diners or depots--
sooner or later comes

a crappy crack about someone
or something I adore—the
blatherer blithely moves along

as if such comments don’t
rile the universe,
but the universe waits almost

forever to respond--
when it does
POW, you have nowhere

to go--the universe spreads
and spreads until
you’re done