Shopping List

By Peter Pawinski

On my walks with Kozmo:

I've never found a complete set of gloves, only rights

I've never found a dead-end sign that didn't seem like an invitation

I've never found a CTA token

I've never found a fortune cookie fortune that didn't foretell the past

I've never found a way to time the light at Archer so we hit the green in stride

I've never found a message inside a bottle

I've never found evidence of a political crime

I've never found a discarded Old Style can—somehow

I've never found a 1988 Donruss Mark Grace rookie card

I've never found the scents Kozmo's always finding

I've never found a working pay phone

I've never found a photograph with a face I recognize

I've never found a coin with my birth year on it

I've never found a church bulletin from a church I attend

I've never found a name carved in concrete that looked unhurried

I've never found Chicago Mothman

I've never found a rhinoceros

I've never found a Corelle dish in our pattern

I've never found a ward map that made any sense

I've never found an undelivered love letter

I've never found an AM radio

I've never found an underfed squirrel

I've never found a perfectly level stretch of sidewalk

I've never found anything considerately left behind, only things lost or cast-off without care

I've never found a sign Kozmo and I had been here before

I've never found the blanket my daughter loved to tatters

I've never found answers to questions I haven't yet asked

I've never found silence

I've never found Kozmo wondering what it all means

I've never found where our walks end, only where they begin again

I've never found myself so aware of where I am