Lori waited for a moment.
She sat on a park bench with her lunch.

The moment went by in a heartbeat.
She noticed she missed it.

She expected to fully participate in it.
She wondered if it fully participated in her.

She smiled at her distraction—
a curved-bill thrasher ran across the grass.

She grinned at her human capacity
to be distracted.

Lori peeled the orange in her hand
removed from her brown bag lunch.

She felt exactly how her fingers
pierced the peel.

And how a pull separated the peel
from the soft and fragrant fruit.

She tossed a wedge to the ground
and watched the thrasher run toward it.

copyright © 2022 Kenneth P. Gurney