Transfixed

Sarah buys me coffee at Alex’s outdoor café. We chitchat – 

David Attenborough, seizures, medications, how to 

make a roux – the way caregivers do. A sparrow 

arrows through the air, impales a massive bug 

to pavement. The crack of carapace between beak 

and concrete slams our conversation into silence. Cicada 

whispers Sarah, it being August and the frantic

clickclacking castanet of wings, battling 

for its life. The cheeky sparrow clamps down 

hard, never letting go. Cicada fights for flight, 

it’s bug bits spittled into the air. Transfixed,

we wager.                Who are we? 

We’ll take it. No matter the outcome.