I was having coffee with a friend.
Two tables over and one down
sat two women doing the same,
to me total strangers,
to each other friends.
The one with her back to me
twice, three times reached her hand
behind her neck and with a bent finger
below her collar scratched an itch.
How different she was from me,
she a woman and me a man,
she black and me white,
me drinking iced coffee,
and she drinking iced tea.
Yet, as dissimilar as we were
we shared somatic similarities,
among them, the need to
alleviate an annoyance,
ease an irritation,
scratch an itch.
7/11/2019