Character Walk
Lisa Kouroupis
When writing I try to tilt
My script to a certain degree
As if it is a sail in the wind I write
& can really see both sides of its equation
I work at a for-profit for non-profits
We are lured these days to our downtown office
With a beer tap & popcorn machine
Square packets of chex mix and granola
Where we are told things like the TEAM
Comes first & TEAM is always all—
Caps in emails, a blue-glass
Building buried into the sky
& our cameras should really always be on
While emerging from the stairs of the train
Leaves me winded sometimes
In its sweeping into the elements
The three physical therapy clinics
I pass to get to my building hold repetitious
Movements into thick walls & straps
A friend says at her workplace she likes to pretend
She is acting so for a while I say it
I’m acting, I’m acting
& it does add another dimension to the moment
A way of being more genuinely in it
Going home I pass a woman using a manual
Push mower on her square of grass
That keeps choking but she smiles
Still at me & at the big intersection
A man balances coffee & a blue gatorade
Bottle on his head
