strategically placed umbrellas, one

she locks up the community college of Philadelphia in like 23 seconds
maybe because she keeps the campus in her basement
or she understands that a lock is just a way of putting off the next time you open something.

and she walks home down 17th street and wonders if the stars are just street lights
from really far away
or if this is a trick with mirrors they were learning to do
somewhere up in the big tall glass building they were building
up down the street.

and she thinks about voicemail and where the things you meant to say really go
if they sit around in a waiting room
and if they relax and just sit around
or stay in that state, pacing, rehearsing everything
so it sounds just right.

at some point she remembers how tape recorders work
and that there is no little man in the fridge that turns the light on or off
or that it’s possible for every star in the sky to be dead and you just don’t know it yet

then it started to rain.