An almost-past

"A mini tribe gave me an orgasm"

the sidewalk read

and, looking down, 
she nearly bumped

her head into a specter

of an almost-past that 

looked familiar,
but ached -

gliding through West 4th Street,
she sifted through the feeling
of a could-have-been-but-wasn't
and walked with heavy hands
toward the beginning-of-an-end
before circling back 
to the end 
of that beginning -

traveling through a perhaps,
she sat calmly in a union square brewery,
finding solace in a maybe 
only to discover she was 
next to that guy no one wants to be 
who cornered the bartender 
to tell her about 
the threesome he had had
with his coworkers last night,
twisting the gold ring on his left hand
again and again and again,
interrupting the pause 
to intrude on her peace -

walking through the NQR 456 L maze,
she shifted her weight into a car
lined with blue benches
and traveled to the present, 
sitting in the possibility of
the tantalizing fantasy 
of a city without memories.