Loki
BY ANN REDDING
Wednesday.
A cold day, a windy day
people intent on getting to
whatever warm place they’re headed to,
not looking up.
Waiting for the #18
A man is searching for
cigarette butts
in the wood chips
beneath a sickly tree.
He’s wearing only a sweater and jeans
in the cold blast of March.
I make eye contact and tell him
that Marie Sandvik
Will give him a coat.
Digging in his pocket
He tells me,
“I have something for you to
give to Marie Sandvik.”
I think, spare change?
His hands are nicotine-stained
and most likely, not clean,
but after a brief pause
I take the blue and silver glass ‘stones’
he hands to me.
“Three for Marie Sandvik,
four for you,” he explains.
I ask his name
“Loki” he tells me
Thor’s mischievous
Little brother.
He asks to sit next to me
after we board the bus.
We converse about Norse
mythology
and the mundane.
Now, I’m sitting next to
an empty seat
wondering where
Loki
calls home.
