Security Shift

For an arbitrary set

of circumstances, respond

and ponder why the door

is held open much too long,

a sneeze can attain

the same frequency

as shattering glass,

the motion sensor senses

no motion when a body

passes near and why doors

are unsecured by

more phantoms than employees

hard at scurrying

late reports between

the walls of rising floors.

The aging truck driver

in receiving, with a compress

against his scarred forehead

is real, as are

his complaints to EMS

concerning a sore neck

and waves of dizziness.

Real as well,

as I go to my car

at four this afternoon,

is his truck in the lane,

where I parked it —

waiting, like a faithful dog,

for its master to return.